THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


DANTE 


VOLUMES  IN  THIS  SERIES 
Published  and  in  Preparation 


Edited  by  Will  D.  Howe 


Arnold Stuart  P.  Sherman 

Browning William  Lyon  Phelps 

Burns W.  A.  Neilson 

Carlyle Bliss  Perry 

Dante Alfred  M.  Brooks 

Defoe William  P.  Trent 

Dickens Richard  Burton 

Emerson Samuel  M.  Crothers 

Hawthorne George  E.  Woodberry 

Ibsen Archibald  Henderson 

Lamb Will  D.  Howe 

Lowell John  H.  Finley 

Stevenson Richard  A.  Rice 

Tennyson Raymond  M.  Alden 

Whitman Brand  Whitlock 

Wordsworth G.  T.  Winchester 

Etc.,  Etc. 


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DANTE 


DANTE 


HOW  TO  KNOW  HIM 


By 
ALFRED   M.  BROOKS 

Professor  of  Fine  Arts,  Indiana  University 
Author  of 

AmCHITBCTURK   AND  THE  AlLIBD  ArTS,   EtC. 


With  Portrait 


sa 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright  1916 
The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 


PRCSa    OF 

BRAUNWORTH  k  CO. 

BOOKBINDERS   AND   PRINT1R8 

BROOKLYN,   N.   Y. 


College 
Librqni 


To 

N.  S. 

and 

M.  S. 


1325359 


"I  think,  if  I  were  professor  of  rhetoric — teacher 
of  the  art  of  writing  well  to  young  men — I  should 
use  Dante  for  my  text-book.  Come  hither,  youth, 
and  learn  how  the  brook  that  flows  at  the  bottom  of 
your  garden,  or  the  farmer  who  ploughs  the  adja- 
cent field,  your  father  and  mother,  your  debts  and 
credits,  and  your  web  of  habits  are  the  very  best 
basis  of  poetry,  and  the  material  which  you  must 
work  up.  Dante  knew  how  to  throw  the  weight  of 
his  body  into  each  act,  and  is,  like  Byron,  Burke, 

and  Carlyle,  the  rhetorician." 

— Emerson. 


PREFACE 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  make  some  of  the 
unparalleled  beauty  and  common  sense  of  The 
Divine  Comedy  accessible  to  many  who  are  wholly 
unfamiliar  with  the  poem,  or  are  kept  from  it  by  its 
reputed  difficulties.  To  this  end,  after  some  brief 
explanation  of  these  difficulties,  we  turn  at  once  to 
representative  passages,  for  the  most  part  translated 
outright,  but  in  some  instances  paraphrased  or  con- 
densed. These  passages  give  the  complete  unfold- 
ing of  the  story,  together  with  its  moral  and  phil- 
osophical significance.  That  some  entire  cantos  are 
omitted  from  Hell,  while  no  entire  canto  is  omitted 
from  Purgatory,  or  Paradise,  is  because  condensa- 
tion is  imperative  in  such  a  book.  The  condensation 
has  been  made  mostly  in  the  Hell,  because  less  of 
it  is  required  to  impress  a  new  reader  with  an  under- 
standing of  its  essential  character  than  is  required 
to  impress  such  a  reader  with  the  very  different  but 
not  less  essential  character  of  Purgatory  or  Para- 
dise.   Long  ago  Lowell  pointed  out  the  misfortune 


PREFACE 

which  comes  of  reading  only  Hell,  and  that  a  real 
love  for  Dante  was  to  be  known  or  measured  by 
one's  interest  in  and  affection  for  his  Paradise  and 
Purgatory.  In  such  degree  as  we  come  to  know 
The  Divine  Comedy  must  we  come  to  know  its  au- 
thor, Dante,  every  line  of  whose  works  proves  him 
to  have  been,  and  to  be,  one  of  the  noblest  of  earth's 
sons  and  Heaven's  heirs,  because  he  realized  as  few 
men  do  "the  sacredness  of  life's  actual  experiences." 

Every  one  who  has  in  him  the  love  of  poetry, 
particularly  dramatic  poetry,  and  many  a  one  who 
believes  that  he  has  not,  finds  himself  facing  life 
from  a  fresh  angle  when  he  makes  acquaintance 
with  Dante,  through  his  famous  drama  of  justice 
based  on  love  and  hate.  Old  as  his  drama  is,  it  is 
ever  new,  because  it  portrays,  as  no  other,  the  per- 
manent passions  of  the  human  race  and  their  un- 
changing consequences,  generation  after  generation. 
Lowell  said:  "The  benignities  of  literature  defy 
fortune  and  outlive  calamity."  Of  Dante's  work 
this  is  specially  true. 

The  Divine  Comedy  is  one  of  the  world's  largest 
assets  on  the  ledger  wherein  is  kept  the  account  of 


PREFACE 

its  humanities.  It  is  a  vast  treasure  placed  to  every 
man's  credit  in  a  bank  that  never  fails.  To  help 
those  who  have  not  done  so,  to  make  a  first  draft  on 
this  account;  to  set  within  reach  some  of  the  most 
extraordinary  benignities  of  all  literature,  remem- 
bering the  while  that  to  him  who  hath  more  shall  be 

given,  is  the  aim  of  this  book. 

A.  M.  B. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTORY  page 

The  Poet 1 

Social,   Artistic   and   Poutical   Conditions   of 

Dante's  Time 6 

Vita  Nuova 15 

The  Poem  and  Its  Style 20 

The  Story  of  the  Divine  Comedy 23 

The  Stage        28 

The  Actors 36 

Time  in  the  Divine  Comedy 39 

Freedom    of    the    Will    the    Corner-stone    of 

Dante's  Belief 40 

Two  Ways  of  Reading  the  Divine  Comedy    .     .  42 

HELL 49 

PURGATORY 141 

PARADISE 261 

INDEX 373 


DANTE 


THE    POET 

THE  DIVINE  COMEDY  is  one  of  those 
works  of  literature  which  from  their  first  ap- 
pearance command  an  ever-increasing  number  of 
readers.  It  is  a  book  in  which  depth  of  human 
thinking  answers  unto  depth.  Because  it  deals  with 
those  questions  only,  which  are  of  perennial  con- 
cern to  man,  in  every  generation,  it  is  an  undying 
book.  It  is  one  of  those  works  of  literature  which 
soon  cease  to  belong  exclusively  to  the  nation  that 
bore  them,  or  the  tongue  in  which  they  were  com- 
posed, and  become  the  common  and  precious  posses- 
sion of  many  tongues  and  nations.  It  was  the  gen- 
ius of  the  thirteenth-century  Italy  that  made  The 
Divine  Comedy  possible ;  an  Italian  man  who  wrote 
it.  It  is  the  glory  of  Italy;  the  supreme  monu- 
ment of  her  literature,  but  it  has  become  the  pos- 
session of  many  peoples  and,  increasingly,  year  by 
year,  the  delight  of  all  who  love  the  clear  setting- 
forth  of  truth,  ugly  or  lovely,  in  the  beautiful  guise 
of  art.  Its  place  in  the  empire  of  letters  was  never 
more  justly  assigned  than  by  Tennyson  who,  when 

1 


2  DANTE 

called  on  for  verses  to  celebrate  the  six  hundredtli 
anniversary  of  Dante's  birth,  wrote: 

"King,  that  hast  reign'd  six  hundred  years,  and  grown 

In  power,  and  ever  growest, —    .    .    . 

I,  wearing  but  the  garland  of  a  day. 

Cast  at  thy  feet  one  flower  that  fades  away." 

In  his  Dante,  one  of  the  best  essays  James  Rus- 
sell Lowell  ever  wrote,  and  one  of  the  simplest,  most 
profound  and  most  illuminating  treatises  on  the 
poet,  his  time  and  work,  he  says: 

"Perhaps  no  other  man  could  have  called  forth 
such  an  expression  as  that  of  Ruskin  that  *the  cen- 
tral man  of  all  the  world,  as  representing  in  perfect 
balance  the  imaginative,  moral,  and  intellectual  fac- 
ulties, all  at  their  highest,  is  Dante.' " 

It  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  make  a  long  book 
out  of  the  praises  of  famous  men  in  every  walk  of 
life  who,  through  the  centuries,  have  lifted  their 
voices  in  laud  of  the  great  Florentine,  but  that  is 
in  no  sense  the  present  purpose.  The  opinion  of  one 
more,  Thomas  Carlyle,  and  we  have  done ;  the  opin- 
ion of  a  man  whose  own  works,  like  Dante's,  are 
famous  for  the  way  in  which  they  illustrate  his 
faith  that,  "the  first  of  all  gospels  is  that  a  lie  can 
not  endure  forever."  Coupling  Dante  and  Shakes- 
peare he  calls  them  "a  peculiar  two."  Then  he  says : 


DANTE  3 

"They  dwell  apart,  in  a  kind  of  royal  solitude; 
none  equal,  none  second  to  them;  in  the  general 
feeling  of  the  world,  a  certain  transcendentalism,  a 
glory  as  of  complete  perfection,  invests  these  two." 

In  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  phrase  very  little 
is  known  with  certainty  about  the  life  of  Dante  be- 
yond a  few  dates,  and  scanty  records  of  positions 
of  responsibility  and  trust  which  he  held. 

The  main  sources  of  external  information  are, 
first  the  famous  chronicle,  or  history  of  Florence, 
written  by  Giovanni  Villani,  a  contemporary  and 
neighbor  of  Dante's.  This  book  contains  one  chap- 
ter on  the  poet.  It  is  the  most  reliable  biography  of 
Dante. 

Another  is  the  eulogy,  or  Short  Treatise  in 
Praise  of  Dante,  written  after  his  death,  by  Boc- 
caccio. A  war  of  opinions  as  to  the  value  of  the 
information  in  this  treatise  has  long  been  waged. 

"The  Dante  currently  known,  down  even  to  the 
present  day,  is  essentially  the  Dante  depicted  by 
Boccaccio."  That  the  imaginative  author  of  the 
Decameron  took  great  liberty  with  such  facts 
as  he  possessed,  and  without  hesitation  made  up 
what  he  lacked,  is  the  opinion  of  the  bulk  of  au- 
thorities. On  the  other  hand,  "the  chief  of  living 
Dante  scholars"  says:  "Most  gratefuj  should  we 
be  to  Boccaccio  for  this  precious  heritage ;  for,  not 
only  is  it  recorded  in  his  own  delicious  and  imag- 
inative prose,  not  only  is  the  portrait  traced  with 


4  DANTE 

loving  and  skilful  hand,  but  without  it  we  should 
not  have  possessed  any  such  portraiture  at  all." 

It  was  the  word  portrait  of  Boccaccio,  and  the 
picture  painted  by  Giotto,  Dante's  contemporary 
and  friend,  that  together  furnished  Carlyle  with 
the  materials  for  one  of  the  most  remarkable  de- 
scriptions of  a  man  in  English  prose.  Although 
this  famous  picture  is  still  commonly  known  as 
Giotto's,  investigation  seems  to  show  that  Vasari, 
chief  biographer  of  the  Italian  artists,  was  wrong 
in  ascribing  the  work  to  Giotto.  It  is  now  assigned 
to  Taddeo  Gaddi,  Giotto's  pupil,  and  the  date  fixed 
is  1337.  It  is  possible  that  Gaddi  had  a  drawing 
of  Dante,  made  by  Giotto,  in  early  life.  At  all 
events  this  picture  shows  Dante  as  a  young  man 
in  whose  face  great  seriousness  and  simplicity 
are  evident,  but  by  no  means  all  of  what  Carlyle 
ascribes  to  the  conquered  and  unconquerable  hero- 
poet  Many  of  the  qualities  which  constitute  the 
greatness  of  Carlyle's  picture  are  due  to  Car- 
lyle's  own  comprehension  of  his  subject,  yet,  many 
of  those  qualities  were  for  the  first  time  brought 
out  in  Boccaccio's  eulogy.  It  is  Carlyle  who,  with 
sympathy  both  delicate  and  virile,  looking  on  what 
was  painted,  thinking  on  what  was  written,  fired 
to  fever  heat  of  imagination,  yet  cool  of  judgment 
in  the  intimate  presence  of  Dante's  work,  came  to 
know  Dante,  and,  knowing,  drew  this  portrait  in 
nineteenth-century  English  words.     Every  bit  of 


DANTE  S 

the  true  understanding  of  Dante,  of  his  Hfe  and  his 
reactions  to  life,  which  can  be  got  from  the  best 
source  of  all,  his  works — by  which  alone  he  can  be 
really  known — every  touch  of  such  understanding 
is  deepened,  and  made  certain,  and  vivified  by  this 
unsurpassed  portrait  in  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship. 

"A  most  touching  face;  perhaps  of  all  the  faces 
that  I  know,  the  most  so.  Lonely  there,  painted  as 
on  vacancy,  with  the  simple  laurel  wound  round  it ; 
the  deathless  sorrow  and  pain,  the  known  victory 
which  is  also  deathless — significant  of  the  whole 
history  of  Dante!  I  think  it  is  the  moumfullest 
face  that  was  ever  painted  from  reality;  an  alto- 
gether tragic,  heart-affecting  face.  There  is  in  it, 
as  foundation  of  it,  the  softness,  tenderness,  gentle 
affection  as  of  a  child;  but  all  this  is  as  if  congealed 
into  short  contradiction,  into  abnegation,  isolation, 
proud  hopeless  pain.  A  soft  ethereal  soul  looking 
out  so  stern,  implacable,  grim-trenchant,  as  from 
imprisonment  of  thick  ribbed  ice!  Withal  it  is  a 
silent  pain,  too,  a  silent  scornful  one;  the  lip  is 
curled  in  a  kind  of  god-like  disdainment  of  the 
thing  that  is  eating  out  his  heart — ^as  if  it  were 
withal  a  mean  insignificant  thing,  as  if  he  whom 
it  had  power  to  torture  and  strangle  were  greater 
than  it.  The  face  of  one  wholly  in  protest,  and 
lifelong  unsurrendering  battle,  against  the  world. 
Affection  all  converted  into  indignation;  an  im- 


6  DANTE 

placable  indignation;  slow,  equable,  silent,  like  that 
of  a  god!  The  eye,  too,  it  looks  out  as  in  a  kind 
of  surprise,  a  kind  of  inquiry,  Why  the  world  was 
of  such  a  sort?  This  is  Dante:  so  he  looks,  this 
voice  of  ten  silent  centuries,  and  sings  us  *his  mystic 
unfathomable  song.' " 

The  established  facts  of  Dante's  life  can  be  set 
forth  almost  in  a  sentence.  A  paragraph  is  more 
than  enough.  He  was  born  in  Florence  and  came 
of  good  family.  The  year  was  1265.  He  was  mar- 
ried, probably  in  1291,  and  he  had  children  who 
survived  him.  Owing  to  political  disputes  he 
was  banished  from  Florence.  This  happened  in 
1302.  That  he  wandered  for  some  time  from  place 
to  place  and  at  last  found  a  hospitable  welcome  and 
home  in  Ravenna  is  certain,  as  it  is  also  certain  that 
he  died  in  Ravenna  in  1321.  His  bones  lie  in  Ra- 
venna to  this  day. 

SOCIAL,    ARTISTIC    AND    POLITICAL    CONDITIONS 
OF  DANTE's  TIME 

Of  the  social,  political  and  religious  aspects  of 
Dante's  age,  history  records  much.  Of  the  actual 
look  of  the  four  chief  cities  associated  with  his 
name,  its  honor  and  dishonor,  Florence,  Bologna, 
Verona  and  Ravenna,  of  the  actual  appearance  of 
the  stage,  so  to  speak,  on  which  Dante  lived  his  life 
and  acted  his  famous  part,  we  know  a  great  deal. 


DANTE  7^ 

Many  an  ancient  building  has  come  down  intact, 
and  many  old  pictures  of  what  was  in  the  thirteenth 
century  and  is  no  more,  are  still  extant. 

In  Dante's  day  Italy,  figuratively  speaking,  was 
like  a  household  rent  by  double  strife — parents  fight- 
ing each  other,  the  children  taking  now  one  and 
now  the  other  side ;  when  by  chance  there  might  be 
peace,  or  more  truly  a  cessation  of  warfare  between 
the  parents,  then  the  children  formed  parties  of 
their  own  and  fought  one  another.  And  yet  most 
strange  as  it  sounds  there  was  beneath  the  universal 
bickering  a  really  wonderful  identity  of  purpose, 
an  underlying,  almost  universal  hope  for  the  same 
thing.  Men  dreamed  of  a  peace  almost  beyond 
comprehension,  and  became  so  enamored  of  their 
dream  that  they  fought  one  another  like  wild  ani- 
mals for  whatever  each  believed  would  hasten 
realization  of  the  common  dream. 

To  become  literal,  Italy  was  supposed  to  fur- 
nish the  holiness,  and  Germany  the  worldly  wis- 
dom and  strength,  which  were  implied  by  the  name 
of  that  extraordinary  institution  for  governing  the 
temporal,  and  directing  the  spiritual  concerns  of 
the  world,  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  an  institution 
conceived  and  bom  under  Charles  the  Great  and  not 
dead  officially  until  1806.  Bryce  says  that  "from 
the  days  of  Constantine  till  far  down  into  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  it  was,  conjointly  with  the  Papacy,  the  rec- 
ognized center  and  head  of  Christendom,  exercising 


8  DANTE 

over  the  minds  of  men  an  influence  such  as  its  ma- 
terial strength  could  never  have  commanded.  .  .  . 
To  trace  with  any  minuteness  the  career  of  the 
Empire,  would  be  to  write  the  history  of  Christen- 
dom from  the  fifth  century  to  the  twelfth,  of  Ger- 
many, and  Italy  from  the  twelfth  to  the  nineteenth. 
.  .  .  Strictly  speaking,  it  is  from  the  year  800 
A.  D.,  when  a  king  of  the  Franks  was  crowned 
Emperor  of  the  Romans  by  Pope  Leo  III,  that  the 
beginning  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  must  be 
dated."    This  Frank  was  Charlemagne. 

Dante  lived  in  the  most  vital  and  the  most  inter- 
esting period  of  the  Empire's  existence,  and  was 
beyond  question  the  most  important  single  figure, 
judged  by  the  test  of  enduring  influence,  that  the 
Empire  added  to  the  annals  of  civilization.  He 
was  a  profound  patriot  and  a  devout  adherent  of  the 
church.  He  loved  Italy  for  itself  and  as  part  of 
the  Empire,  and  he  venerated  the  church.  To  Flor- 
ence, the  city  of  his  birth,  he  was  devoted,  and  he 
revered  the  memory  of  his  ancestors,  and  the  for- 
mer age  of  simple  living  and  high  thinking,  of 
which,  in  a  few  words,  he  drew  such  a  picture  as 
has  never  been  equaled.  "Florence  was  abiding  in 
peace,  sober  and  modest.  She  had  not  necklace  or 
coronal,  or  women  with  ornamented  shoes,  or 
girdle  which  was  more  to  be  looked  at  than  the 
person.  Nor  yet  did  the  daughter  at  her  birth 
give  fear  to  the  father,  for  the  time  and  the  dowry 


DANTE  5! 

did  not  outrun  due  measure  on  this  side  and  that. 
She  had  not  houses  empty  of  families — I  saw  Bel- 
lincion  Berti  go  girt  with  leather  and  bone,  and  his 
lady  come  from  her  mirror  with  unpainted  face. 
And  I  saw  him  of  the  Nerli,  and  him  of  Vecchio, 
satisfied  with  unlined  skin,  and  their  ladies  with  the 
spindle  and  the  distaff.  O  fortunate  women! 
Each  one  was  sure  of  her  burial  place."  These  are 
the  words  of  Dante's  ancestor,  Cacciaguida,  when 
Dante  meets  him  in  Paradise. 

The  other  side  of  the  shield,  the  Florence  of 
Dante's  own  day,  is  pictured  in  the  famous  apos- 
trophe of  the  opening  lines  of  the  twenty-sixth 
canto  of  the  Inferno. 

"Rejoice,  O  Florence,  since  thou  art  so  mighty 
that  thou  canst  spread  thy  wings  o'er  sea  and  land 
and  thy  name  is  known  throughout  Hell.'* 

It  was  an  age  in  which  the  Emperor  and  the 
Pope,  pretending  to  represent  the  interest  of  this 
world,  and  the  other,  were  at  incessant  war  over 
material  things.  It  was  an  age  in  which  such  men 
as  Dante  believed  that  this  world  should  be  gov- 
erned by  the  powers  of  church  and  state  working 
together  for  the  good  of  all ;  an  age  which  believed 
that  men  should  render  unto  God  the  things  which 
are  God's,  and  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are 
Caesar's,  and  that  the  Pope  was  God's  vicegerent  on 


10  DANTE 

Earth,  and  the  Emperor,  Caesar's.  It  was  an  age 
which  witnessed  the  most  fearful  disputes  between 
the  spiritual  and  temporal  powers;  disputes  con- 
nected with  every  form  of  falsehood,  and  black- 
ened by  every  kind  of  crime.  The  party  of  the 
Pope  was  called  Guelf.  The  Emperor's  party  was 
known  as  Ghibelline.  When,  for  a  little,  now  and 
then,  these  parties  ceased  to  quarrel  as  great  terri- 
torial factions,  Italy  against  Germany,  the  adher- 
ents of  each  of  these  parties  in  the  individual  states, 
city-republics,  would  fall  to  fighting  one  another.  It 
was  constant  internal  war,  civil  war,  the  members 
of  one  house  at  one  another's  throats,  that  Dante 
saw  in  the  place  where  he  prayed  and  labored  for 
peace,  and  believed  peace  would  be  if  the  powers 
who  had  the  ordering  of  church  and  state  affairs, 
would  but  be  fair  and  brave.  He  was  himself  a  Ghib- 
elline, and  it  was  after  one  of  the  Guelf-Ghibelline 
quarrels  in  Florence  that  he  was  banished  by  the 
leaders  of  the  ascendent  Guelf  faction.  The  history 
of  the  time  is  one  long  record  of  endless  fighting 
on  a  grand  scale  between  great  states;  on  a  small 
scale  between  city  and  city;  of  the  smaller  war  of 
parties  within  the  walls  of  a  single  city;  finally,  of 
disputes  between  individuals.  Famine,  murder  and 
pestilence  walked  the  streets  at  noonday,  and  no- 
where more  than  in  those  wonderful  cities  of  north- 
ern Italy — the  history  of  which  is  the  history  of 


DANTE  11 

northern  Italy — Siena,  Pistoia,  Pisa,  to  name  but 
few,  and  before  all  of  them,  Florence. 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  for  a  moment  that  at 
this  very  time  there  was  among  the  citizens  of  these 
same  towns  a  love  of  beauty  in  its  most  varied 
forms,  and  an  inb6rn  capacity  for  preserving  the 
loveliness  of  what  is  passing,  as  well  as  the  awful- 
ness  of  it,  in  the  permanent  forms  of  art;  such  a 
love  and  such  a  capacity  as  the  world  has  probably 
never  known  save  when  Athens  was  in  her  prime. 
Architecture  never  carried  its  head  more  proudly 
than  when  Giotto,  and  his  successors,  built  the  Flor- 
entine Campanile.  Mural  decoration  has  never  sur- 
passed the  stage  to  which  this  same  Giotto,  and  his 
contemporaries,  brought  it.  And  sculpture,  too,  in 
the  persons  of  the  Pisani,  in  earlier  works  such  as  the 
Pisan  pulpit,  and  later,  the  baptistry  gates,  and  all 
the  arts  in  sweet  combination,  for  example  the  tab- 
ernacle by  Orcagna  in  the  Florentine  church  of  Or 
San  Michele,  flourished  and  bore  fruits  which  have 
the  savor  of  immortality  about  them.  Of  the 
plastic  and  graphic  arts  of  the  age  of  Dante,  and 
the  age  immediately  following,  that  can  be  said  with 
truth  which  Plutarch  said  of  the  monuments  on  the 
acropolis  in  Athens :  "As  if  every  one  of  these  fore- 
said works  had  some  living  spirit  in  it  to  make  it 
seem  young  and  fresh:  and  a  soul  that  lived  ever, 
which  kept  them  in  their  good  continuing  state."    In 


12  DANTE 

looking  at  the  Italian  arts  of  the  thirteenth  and  early 
fourteenth  centuries,  one  wonders  who  taught  their 
authors  how  to  make  themselves  eternal,  as  Dante 
says  Brunetto  Latini  taught  him. 

The  works  which  men  make  with  their  hands  are 
of  long  duration.  The  acts  which  they  do  to  one 
another  are  of  fleeting  moment,  and  soon  forgotten, 
unless  the  record  of  them  is  touched  by  the  magic 
of  art.  Wlien  this  happens,  past  history  is  made 
ever-present,  and  almost  everlasting.  The  old 
chronicles  and  musty  records  of  the  troublous  times 
of  Dante,  interesting  as  they  are  to  the  expert,  and 
the  scholar,  would  be  dead  to  men  in  general  had 
not  Dante  touched  them  with  the  magic  of  art :  had 
he  not  done  for  Florence  and  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire just  what  Homer  did  for  Troy  and  the  king- 
doms of  Greece;  made  them  living  records  of  the 
loves  and  passions  of  human  beings,  and  so  In- 
sured them  an  unfailing  place  in  the  hearts  and 
heads  of  living  men  and  women  utterly  without 
regard  to  race  or  time.  This  was  the  secret  of  the 
immortality  which  Brunetto  Latini  bestowed  on 
Dante.  This  was  the  gift  which  Dante  acknowl- 
edged in  a  few  lines  rendered  incandescent  by  an 
intensity  of  devotion  unsurpassed  among  all  reg- 
isters of  the  affection  of  man  for  man,  Dante  says 
to  Brunetto,  whom  he  finds  in  Hell :  "If  my  prayers 
were  granted  you  would  still  be  alive,  for  fixed  in 
my  mind  and  heart  is  your  good,  dear,  paternal 


DANTE  1^ 

image  as  on  Earth  hour  by  hour  you  taught  me  how 
man  makes  himself  eternal.  While  I  live  it  be- 
hooves me  to  show  my  gratitude  in  speech." 

Of  the  age,  of  the  papal-imperial  quarrels,  of  the 
internecine  wars,  Dante  has  left,  among  many,  one 
surpassing  portrait.  Of  what  the  age  was  on  the 
side  of  art,  the  expression  of  wise  and  beautiful 
thinking,  in  the  medium  of  stone,  or  paint,  or 
words,  the  works  of  the  age  prove,  and  none  of  them 
more  fully  than  The  Divine  Comedy.  Here  is 
Dante's  famous  portrait  of  his  own  time;  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  ever  drawn  of  any  time : 

"Ah,  servile  Italy!  hostel  of  grief!  ship  without 
pilot  in  great  tempest !  not  lady  of  provinces  but  a 
brothel ! — in  thee  thy  living  men  exist  not  without 
war  and  of  those  whom  one  wall  and  one  moat  shut 
in,  one  gnaws  the  other.  Search,  wretched  one, 
around  its  shores,  thy  seaboard,  and  then  look 
within  thy  bosom,  if  any  part  in  thee  enjoys  peace. 
What  avails  it  for  thee  that  Justinian  readjusted 
the  bridle,  if  the  saddle  be  empty?  .  .  .  O  Ger- 
man Albert,  who  has  forsaken  her  that  has  become 
untamed  and  savage,  and  oughtest  to  bestride  her 
saddle-bows,  may  a  just  judgment  from  the  stars 
fall  upon  thy  blood,  and  may  it  be  so  strange  and 
manifest,  that  thy  successor  may  have  fear  thereat! 
.  .  .  Come  to  see  thy  Rome,  that  weeps,  widowed 
and  alone,  and  cries  day  and  night:   *My  Caesar, 


14  DANTE 

wherefore  dost  thou  not  keep  me  company?'  Come' 
to  see  how  the  people  love  one  another;  and  if  no 
pity  move  thee,  come  to  be  ashamed  for  thy  own 
renown!  And  if  it  be  lawful  for  me,  O  Supreme 
Jove,  who  wast  on  Earth  crucified  for  us,  are  thy 
just  eyes  turned  aside  elsewhere?" 

He  begins  with  a  prayer  about  servitude  and  tem- 
pest, and  concludes  the  opening  theme  of  this  brief 
symphony  of  all  the  horrors  that  may  befall,  with 
brotheldom.  Then  follows  a  passage  containing 
the  most  terrible,  hence  the  truest,  description  of 
civil  war  ever  composed.  From  this  there  comes  a 
change  to  the  theme,  "there  is  no  peace,"  and  the 
transcendent  wail  of  the  closing  passage,  there  is 
nobody  to  see  that  the  laws  are  carried  out,  though 
the  laws  exist,  thanks  to  the  Emperor  Justinian  who, 
hundreds  of  years  before,  had  had  those  laws  codi- 
fied and  arranged  so  that  they  could  be  used.  The 
lamentation  dies  down  a  little,  and  becomes  an  al- 
most intimate  appeal  to  the  Emperor  himself,  Albert 
of  Hapsburg,  who  has  not  even  taken  the  trouble 
to  go  to  Rome  to  receive  the  papal  sanction,  and 
the  crown,  though  he  has  already  two  years  borne 
the  great  title.  Then  follows  a  quiet  complaint 
which  recites  the  low  state  to  which  are  fallen 
the  glorious  names  of  the  great  families  of  former 
times  in  Italy,  weeping — "the  garden  of  the  empire 
become  desert" — and  from  this  rises  to  a  tremen-j 


DANTE  15 

dous  pitch  of  misery  when  Rome  in  the  person  of 
the  Pope  declares  herself  widowed  because  her 
rightful  spouse,  the  Emperor,  has  deserted  her. 
Finally  the  crashing  finale,  a  prayer  to  Christ. 

There  are  few  passages  like  it  in  all  literature,  and 
those,  in  Job  or  Jeremiah,  Revelations,  or  the  ser- 
mons of  Savonarola.  The  only  touch  of  fear,  and 
pain,  and  hopeless  dread,  which  is  left  out  of  this- 
apostrophe  to  Italy  and  to  the  Empire  in  the  name  of 
the  Emperor,  that  stinging  irony,  which  can  alone 
whip  spiritual  flesh  with  scorpions,  is  added  in  the 
apostrophe  to  Florence  which  immediately  follows. 
It  begins  in  pathos — "My  Florence !" — ^then  changes 
to  the  bitterest  irony  ever  worded  by  human  tongue 
— "Surely  thou  mayest  be  content  with  this  digres- 
sion, which  does  not  touch  thee —  Now  make  thee 
glad,  thou  that  hast  such  reason ;  thou  rich,  thou  at 
peace,  thou  wise !"  And  then  the  sorrowful  closing 
passage  full  of  tenderness.  "And  if  thou  mind  thee 
well  and  see  the  light,  thou  wilt  see  thyself  resem^ 
bling  that  sick  woman,  who  can  not  find  repose  upon 
the  feathers,  but  with  her  tossing  seeks  to  relieve 
her  pain." 

VITA  NUOVA 

To  understand  the  story  of  The  Divine  Comedy 
it  is  necessary  to  know  a  few  facts  out  of  which  came 
the  inspiration  for  Dante's  first  venture  in  letters; 
facts  that  were  the  cause  of  the  loveliest  story  of 


16  DANTE 

boy  and  girl  love  which  the  world  possesses.  When 
Dante  was  nine  years  old  he  fell  in  love  with  a  girl 
of  eight.  Her  name  was  Beatrice.  From  that  time 
on,  to  her  death  in  1290,  life  for  Dante  seemed  a 
regeneration.  The  relations  between  these  two 
lovers  were  never  other  than  distant,  consisting,  at 
most,  of  glances  and  a  few  salutations.  The  boy, 
bashful  and  diffident,  sought  only  clandestine 
glimpses  of  his  beloved.  Away  from  her  he  wrote 
verses  in  the  praise  of  her,  and  of  love,  and  of  all 
heavenly  qualities  and  things  to  which  her  coming 
into  his  life  had  introduced  him.  These  verses,  with 
short  intermingled  passages  of  prose,  he  put  to- 
gether and  named  Vita  Nuova,  "The  New  Life." 
In  1289  Dante  wrote  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of 
this  book  about  his  Beatrice  and  love.  No  part  is 
more  exquisite  in  itself,  or  more  typical  of  a  whole 
which  should  never  be  read  but  as  a  whole,  than  the 
page  of  prose  and  the  sonnet  which  together  form 
Chapter  XXVI.  The  following  translation  is  by 
Charles  Eliot  Norton: 

"I  say  that  she  showed  herself  so  gentle  and  so 
full  of  all  pleasantness,  that  those  who  looked  on  her 
comprehended  in  themselves  a  pure  and  sweet  de- 
light, such  as  they  could  not  after  tell  in  words; 
nor  was  there  any  who  might  look  upon  her  but  that 
at  first  he  needs  must  sigh.  These  and  more  admira- 
ble things  proceeded  from  her  admirably,  and  with 


DANTE  17, 

power.  Wherefore  I,  thinking  upon  this,  desiring 
to  resume  the  style  of  her  praise,  resolved  to  say- 
words  in  which  I  would  set  forth  her  admirable  and 
excellent  influences,  to  the  end  that  not  only  those 
who  might  actually  behold  her,  but  also  others, 
should  know  of  her  whatever  words  could  tell.  Then 
I  devised  this  sonnet : — 

"So  gentle  and  so  gracious  doth  appear 
My  lady  when  she  giveth  her  salute, 
That  every  tongue  becometh,  trembling,  mute; 
Nor  do  the  eyes  to  look  upon  her  dare. 

"Although  she  hears  her  praises,  she  doth  go 

Benignly  vested  with  humility; 
And  like  a  thing  come  down,  she  seems  to  be, 
From  heaven  to  earth,  a  miracle  to  show. 

"So  pleaseth  she  whoever  cometh  nigh. 

She  gives  the  heart  a  sweetness  through  the  eyes, 

Which  none  can  understand  who  doth  not  prove. 

And  from  her  countenance  there  seems  to  move 
A  spirit  sweet  and  in  Love's  very  guise. 

Who  to  the  soul,  in  going,  sayeth :  Sigh  1" 

Three  chapters  further  on,  the  tone  of  rapt  and 
innocent  joy  in  life  and  love  changes,  and  the  fear- 
ful and  unanswerable  question  of  death  is  raised. 
In  Dante's  own  words,  "the  Lord  of  Justice  called 
this  most  gentle  one  to  glory."  Beatrice  died,  as  has 
been  said,  in  1290.  The  twenty-ninth  chapter  of 
The  New  Life  announces  her  death.  Its  caption  is 
from  Lamentations.  "How  doth  the  city  sit 
solitary,  that  was  full  of  people!  How  is  she  be- 
come as  a  widow!  she  that  was  great  among  the 


18  DANTE 

nations."  Like  Judah,  Dante  had  "gone  into  cap- 
tivity because  of  affliction;"  like  her  he  finds  him- 
self "in  bitterness."  After  this  he  continues  his 
New  Life  with  brief  passages  of  the  prose  of  simple 
affliction,  and  the  verse  of  simple  grief.  Like  Judah 
he  finds  "no  rest."  With  the  forty-third  chapter  of 
the  little  book  its  author  breaks  off  so  abruptly  as 
to  make  it  seem  almost  petulant.  He  is  as  a  matter 
of  fact  full  of  petulancy  at  his  own  inability  to 
express  his  feelings  for  his  lost  love.  In  this  final 
chapter,  in  length  but  a  short  paragraph,  he  reg- 
isters a  vow,  and  sets  up  an  ideal.  These  are  the 
connecting  links  in  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect 
that  finally  brought  The  Divine  Comedy  into  exist- 
ence. To  The  Diidne  Comedy,  The  New  Life  is  the 
poet's  own  introduction. 

This  introduction.  The  New  Life,  is  simple  in  the 
sense  that  a  child's  life,  happy  or  unhappy,  is  sim- 
ple. The  Divine  Comedy  is  complex,  vastly  so,  in 
the  sense  that  an  active-minded,  active-handed  man's 
life  is  complex.  Yet  The  Comedy  too  is  simple ;  sim- 
ple in  the  sense  in  which  all  great  works  of  art  are 
simple,  i.  e.,  single,  sincere,  direct — endowed  with 
singleness  of  aim.  As  in  nature,  so  in  Dante's  art, 
whether  the  subject  is  simple  or  complex,  it  is  never 
confused.  The  solar  system  is  not  confused  though 
it  is  complex,  and  vast,  beyond  human  comprehen- 
sion. The  bloom  of  chickweed  is  not  simple  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  small.     And  so  with  these 


DANTE  19 

works  of  Dante,  though  one  is  simple,  even  slight, 
and  the  other  is  complex,  and  of  an  intellectual  and 
poetic  inclusiveness  far  beyond  any  save  a  bare 
handful  of  the  most  glorious  works,  neither  is  con- 
fused. Complexity  and  simplicity  are  relative  terms 
when  properly  applied  to  the  works  of  nature,  or 
the  works  of  art.  Confused  is  an  absolute  term  when 
properly  used  in  regard  to  art,  and  is  truly  descrip- 
tive of  works  of  inferior  art  only.  To  the  works  of 
nature  it  is  not  applicable  at  all.  It  is  ignorance 
alone  that  confounds  the  complex  with  the  confused, 
whether  in  art  or  in  nature,  that  on  which  art  must 
be  forever  based,  and  to  which  art  must  be  forever 
true.    What  art,  matters  not  the  least. 

We  must  read,  mark,  and  inwardly  digest,  the 
last  simple  chapter  of  The  New  Life.  We  must  re- 
member the  vow,  and  grasp  the  ideal,  therein  regis- 
tered and  set  up,  if  we  wish  to  derive  true  pleasure, 
through  true  understanding,  from  the  poem  to  which 
it  is  the  introduction.  The  translation  of  this  chap- 
ter again  is  Norton's : 

"After  this  sonnet,  a  wonderful  vision  appeared 
to  me,  in  which  I  saw  things  which  made  me  re- 
solve to  speak  no  more  of  this  blessed  one,  until  I 
could  more  worthily  treat  of  her.  And  to  attain 
this,  I  study  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  as  she  truly 
knows.  So  that,  if  it  shall  please  Him  through  whom 
all  things  live,  that  my  life  be  prolonged  for  some 


20  DANTE 

years,  I  hope  to  say  of  her  what  was  never  said  of 
any  woman. 

"And  then  may  it  please  Him  who  is  the  Lord 
of  Grace,  that  my  soul  may  go  to  behold  the  glory 
of  its  lady,  namely,  of  that  blessed  Beatrice,  who 
in  glory  looks  upon  the  face  of  Him  qui  est  per 
omnia  saecula  benedictus  (who  is  blessed  forever).** 

Dante's  ideal  was  to  learn  to  write  in  such  a  way 
as  would  enable  him  to  express  his  thought  about 
Beatrice  with  satisfaction  to  himself,  hence,  to 
others,  the  entirety  of  its  fervor  and  depth.  His 
vow  was  to  say  no  more  of  Beatrice  until  he  could 
say  of  her,  "what  was  never  said  of  any  woman." 
He  did  both  these  things,  and  to  this  day  he  stands 
in  the  foremost  rank  of  the  few  men  of  all  time  who 
have  succeeded  in  doing  either  of  these  things; 
alone,  and  above  all  men  in  having  done  both  of 
these  things. 

THE  POEM  AND  ITS  STYLE 

The  Divine  Comedy  is  a  great  poem  and  a  great 
play  in  one,  not  meant  as  a  play  to  be  acted  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  but  as  a  poem,  meant  in  reading,  to 
present  its  characters  to  the  mind  of  the  reader,  as 
the  characters  of  a  play  present  themselves  in  acting 
to  the  audience.  In  order  that  the  effect  of  a  play 
may  be  produced  on  the  reader's  mind,  Dante  in- 
corporates full  stage  directions,  and  tlie  most  com- 


DANTE  21 

plete  account  of  the  stage  setting,  in  the  body  of  the 
work  itself.  Furthermore,  without  a  suggestion  of 
meaning  to  do  so,  he  keeps  the  reader  always  aware 
of  the  time  of  every  scene  and  act. 

His  play.  The  Divine  Comedy,  is  divided  into 
three  acts  and  one  hundred  scenes;  three  books,  to 
speak  of  it  as  a  poem,  and  one  hundred  cantos. 

Its  most  remarkable  characteristic  is  what  may  be 
called  convincingness.  Lowell  said,  "We  read  The 
Comedy  as  a  record  of  fact."  In  the  sense  of  pre- 
senting convincing  facts.  The  Comedy  is  beyond  all 
other  literary  works  convincing ;  convincing  as  Para- 
dise Lost  is  not.  "We  read  Paradise  Lost  as  a  poem, 
the  C ommedia  as  a  record  of  fact,  and  no  one,"  con- 
tinues Lowell,  "can  read  Dante  without  believing 
his  story,  for  it  is  plain  that  he  believed  it  himself. 
It  is  false  aesthetics  to  confound  the  grandiose  with 
the  imaginative."  It  is  by  the  word  imaginative  that 
Lowell  describes  the  spiritual  raison  d'etre  for  the 
unique  quality  of  The  Divine  Comedy.  Emerson, 
who  understood  this  as  clearly  as  Lowell,  pointed 
out  with  equal  clearness  what  may  be  called  its 
unique  physical  raison  d'etre — when  he  added  to  the 
statement  that  Dante  is  "all  wings,  pure  imagina- 
tion," this  other  statement,  "he  wrote  like  Euclid." 

"Imagination  bodies  forth  the  forms  of  things  un- 
known .  .  .  and  gives  to  airy  nothing  a  local 
habitation  and  a  name."  It  is  precisely  this  that  the 
author  of  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  did,  thereby 


22  DANTE 

making  the  unreal,  real ;  the  impossible,  in  the  sense 
of  what  never  was,  appear  possible,  and  convincing; 
just  this  that  saved  Shakespeare,  as  it  saved  Dante, 
from  ever  becoming  grandiose;  just  this  that  must 
forever  link  their  names  together;  just  this  that  led 
Carlyle  to  call  them  "a  peculiar  two." 

To  write  like  Euclid  is  the  same  as  giving  to  the 
figures  and  the  places  of  imagination,  "a  local  habita- 
tion and  a  name."  It  is  the  ultimate  secret  of  all 
great  art.  By  it  comes  the  last  touch  of  worth  which 
human  genius  can  bestow  on  works  of  art — that 
simplicity  which  proves  that  the  artist  had  creative 
imagination  together  with  complete  mastery  of  ex- 
pression— simplicity,  which  in  this  sense  is  the 
synonym  for,  and  the  witness  of,  style.  Style  is  the 
quality  of  a  work  of  art  that  makes  visible,  audible, 
in  a  word,  understandable,  the  quality  of  an  artist's 
very  soul.  Wagner  in  his  autobiography  makes  the 
meaning  of  style  clear  when  he  tells  of  sending  a 
copy  of  his  Nibelungen  poem  to  Schopenhauer,  for 
whom  he  had  tremendous  admiration,  but  with 
whom  he  had  no  personal  acquaintance.  He  says : 
"To  its  title  I  merely  added  the  words  'with  rev- 
erence,* but  without  writing  a  single  word  to  Schop- 
enhauer himself.  This  I  did  partly  from  a  feeling 
of  great  sh)rness  in  addressing  him,  and  partly  be- 
cause I  felt  that  if  the  perusal  of  my  poem  did  not 
enlighten  Schopenhauer  about  the  man  with  whom 
he  was  dealing,  a  letter  from  me — no  matter  hovf^ 


DANTE  23 

explicit — would  not  help  him  much."  Here  is  the 
very  essence  of  the  meaning  of  style!  That  quality 
in  a  work  of  art  which  declares  its  author,  as  Mil- 
ton thought  the  universe  declared  its  Creator. 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  DIVINE  COMEDY 

Condensed  to  the  briefest  terms  the  story  of  The 
Divine  Comedy  is  this.  When  Beatrice  had  been 
ten  years  dead,  i.  e.,  1300  A.  D.,  Dante  represents 
himself  as  making  his  famous  journey.  "Midway 
in  the  course  of  my  life,"  at  thirty-five  years  of  age, 
going  on  the  assumption  that  the  psalmist  was  right 
in  setting  the  years  of  man  at  three  score  and  ten, 
when  half  his  days  were  spent,  Dante  found  him- 
self gone  astray,  even  lost.  We  need  not  discuss 
the  meaning  of  astray  and  lost  as  Dante  applies 
these  words  to  himself.  He  may  have  meant  mor- 
ally, in  the  sense  of  "gone  to  the  dogs,"  or  he  may 
have  meant  spiritually,  in  the  sense  of  "following 
after  false  gods."  He  may  have  meant,  and  prob- 
ably did,  both.  It  is  not  necessary  to  pry  into  the 
particulars  of  his  having  gone  astray  and  finding 
himself,  as  he  says,  "in  a  dark  wood,  where  the 
right  way  was  lost."  That  he  was  speaking  both 
literally  and  figuratively  may  be  fairly  assumed. 
The  all-important  point  is  that  he  had  lost  his  moor- 
ings on  the  sea  of  life,  and  was  being  driven  before 
the  gusts  of  passion  which  shipwreck  so  many  men; 
that  he  was  himself  in  imminent  peril  of  shipwreck. 


24  DANTE 

At  this  point,  Beatrice,  who  has  carried  her  love 
for  Dante  into  Paradise,  sees  his  straits  and  sets 
about  to  succor  him;  to  set  him  right  once  more, 
and  so  bring  about  his  ultimate  salvation.  Here 
is  the  whole  story,  the  love  of  Beatrice  in  Heaven, 
for  her  mortal  lover,  left  behind,  and  fallen  on 
evil  days,  working  out  his  regeneration.  To  do 
this  Beatrice  gets  permission  to  descend  into  that 
part  of  Hell  where  Virgil  is.  This  is  a  place  where 
the  only  form  of  suffering  inflicted  upon  the  upright 
and  virtuous  heathen  is  that  of  being  cut  off  from 
beholding  God  for  the  reason  that  they  had  not  wor- 
shiped Him,  and  this,  because  they  had  lived  and 
died  before  He  revealed  Himself  to  the  world, 
hence  through  no  fault  of  theirs.  When  she  arrives 
in  this  "easiest  room  in  Hell,"  to  use  the  applicable 
words  of  Michael  Wigglesworth,  she  singles  out 
Virgil  and  asks  him  to  play  the  part  of  guide  to  her 
friend,  Dante,  and  show  him  the  horror  which  en- 
compasses the  damned;  the  sufferings  which  those 
who  repent  in  time  must  undergo  in  order  to  wash 
themselves  of  sin  and  be  finally  fit  for  Heaven.  The 
joys  of  Paradise  she  herself  will  later  show  Dante. 
.Virgil  was  chosen  because  he  was  regarded  as  the 
supreme  example  of  human  wisdom,  and  the  su- 
preme master  of  verbal  expression;  becaus'e  he  was 
a  poet,  a  transcendent  poet,  one  possessed  of  the 
"breath  and  finer  spirit  of  all  knowledge." 

Virgil,  in  the  second  canto  of  Hell,  having  agreed 


DANTE  25 

to  guide  Dante,  tells  him  tlie  story  of  Beatrice  com- 
ing to  him.  He  says,  "A  blessed  and  beautiful  lady 
called  me  in  such  fashion  that  I  besought  her  to  com- 
mand. Her  eyes  were  brighter  than  the  stars,  and 
she  began  to  say  in  low,  sweet  tones,  an  angel's 
voice:  *0  courteous  Mantuan  spirit!  whose  fame 
yet  lasts  on  Earth,  and  shall  till  the  end  of  time,  a 
friend  of  mine,  but  not  of  fortune,  is  so  hindered 
(has  the  world  so  much  with  him) ,  that  I  fear  I  may 
be  already  too  late  with  help.  Now  do  thou  move, 
and  with  thy  skilful  speech,  and  with  whatever  is 
needed  for  his  deliverance,  aid  him,  so  that  I  may 
be  consoled.  I  am  Beatrice  who  make  thee  go.  I 
came  from  a  place  whither  I  desire  to  return.'  Love 
moved  me.    It  makes  me  speak." 

Virgil  tells  Beatrice  that  he  will  do  as  she  asks. 
Thereupon  he  goes  forth  from  the  place  where  he 
is,  and  finds  Dante,  who  has  lost  his  way  in  the 
dark  wood,  the  story  of  which  forms  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  first  canto  of  The  Divine  Comedy. 
Virgil  offers  to  lead  Dante  through  the  underworld, 
and  up  the  steeps  of  Purgatory  as  far  as  it  will  be 
permitted  him  to  go,  i.  e.,  to  the  confines  of  the 
Earthly  Paradise,  which  is  on  the  mountain  of  Pur- 
gatory, and  that  place  where  all  is,  as  it  was  before 
the  Fall.  Into  this  place  Virgil  can  not  enter.  On 
the  threshold  of  it  he  leaves  Dante  to  await  the  com- 
ing of  Beatrice,  who  is  to  guide  him  through  the 
Earthly  and  the  Heavenly  Paradise.    The  parting  of 


26  DANTE 

Virgil  and  Dante  takes  place  at  the  close  of  the 
twenty-seventh  canto  of  Purgatory.  The  scene  is 
one  of  incomparable  loveliness  and  simplicity.  Vir- 
gil says,  "The  temporal  fire  and  the  eternal" — mean- 
ing the  sufferings  and  punishment  of  Purgatory, 
which  have  their  allotted  term,  and  those  other  suf- 
ferings and  punishments  of  Hell,  which  are  without 
end — "thou  hast  seen,  son,  and  now  thou  art  come 
to  a  place  where  of  myself  I  discern  no  farther." 
Virgil  means  that  he  himself  has  sufficient  powers 
of  intellect  to  guide  Dante  along  the  crooked  ways 
and  through  the  hard  places  of  Hell  and  Purgatory, 
but  that  he  lacks  the  light  of  divine  grace  which 
alone  can  enable  any  one  to  tread  the  paths  of  Para- 
dise. He  tells  Dante  that  he  has  brought  him  so 
far  with  the  help  of  his  own  understanding  and  art, 
in  a  word,  intellectual  power.  "Forth  art  thou," 
says  Virgil,  "from  the  steep  ways,  forth  art  thou 
from  the  narrow.  Expect  no  more  or  word  or  sign 
from  me.  Free,  upright,  and  sound  is  thine  own 
will,  and  it  would  be  wrong  not  to  act  according  to 
its  dictate :  wherefore  thee  over  thyself  I  crown  and 
mitre." 

The  point  is  this.  Dante,  a  man  still  in  the  flesh, 
sinful  and  unrepentant,  hence  certain  of  Hell,  should 
he  die,  is,  through  the  special  favor  of  Heaven 
granted  to  his  once  earthly  but  now  heavenly  lover, 
permitted  to  make  a  pilgrimage  through  Hell  and 


DANTE  27 

Purgatory.  This  journey,  which  is  his  warning, 
proves  to  be  his  salvation,  because  he  takes  heed. 
The  events  and  sights  of  this  journey  he  records  for 
the  warning  and  salvation  of  all  men  throughout 
time,  who  may  be  living  in  sin,  unrepentant,  as  he 
was.  The  record  is  The  Divine  Comedy.  It  shows 
what  happens  to  the  damned  in  Hell;  them  whose 
case  is  hopeless.  It  shows  what  happens  to  penitents 
in  Purgatory;  them  whose  case  has  hope  in  it, 
though  their  actual  condition  in  Purgatory  is  not 
less  fearful  than  that  of  souls  in  Hell.  The  essen- 
tial difference  between  the  two  lies  in  the  temporal 
character  of  one,  and  the  eternal  character  of  the 
other. 

Finally,  The  Divine  Comedy  describes  the  state  of 
the  blessed  in  Paradise.  This  is  the  third  part  of 
the  record.  The  journey  Dante  made  through  the 
Earthly  and  the  Heavenly  Paradise,  with  Beatrice  as 
guide,  is  described.  To  be  fit  to  undertake  this  last 
stage  he  had  to  represent  himself  as  purged  of  all 
sin,  and  that  is  the  meaning  of  Virgil's  parting 
words,  "thee  over  thyself  I  crown  and  mitre."  In 
effect,  Virgil  says  to  Dante,  "You  have  but  to  go 
your  own  way  now  to  go  right ;  you  can  not  choose 
but  follow  the  guide  who  will  soon  come  to  you. 
You  can  not  desire  to  go  elsewhere  than  she  leads 
you."  This  guide  is,  as  we  know,  Beatrice.  The 
realm  through  which  she  leads  her  lover  is  Paradise. 


28  DANTE  ' 

THE  STAGE 

The  universe  as  conceived  of  by  thirteenth  cen- 
tury Christianity  was  not  complex,  because  it  was 
regarded  as  consisting  of  certain  definite  parts,  put 
together  in  a  certain  fashion,  and  recognized  as 
having  fixed  limits.  Its  cosmography  was  clearly 
outlined  in  the  minds  of  educated  men  of  that  day. 
Let  us  not  forget  for  a  moment  that  Dante  was  pre- 
eminently such  a  man;  one  who  had  mastered  the 
sum  of  human  knowledge,  the  "omne  scibile"  as  it 
was  then  called.  The  reason  why  the  medieval  idea 
of  the  universe  often  seems  so  complex  is  because  of 
the  numerous,  almost  endless  subdivisions  which 
men  were  constantly  imposing  upon  what  to  start 
with  was  a  really  simple  and  logical  scheme.  The 
complexity,  and  resulting  indefiniteness  of  the 
medieval  conception,  was  due  to  endless  dividing 
of  a  known  quantity,  a  universe  accepted  as  a  known 
fact.  The  complexity  and  indefiniteness  of  our 
modem  conception  of  the  universe  is  due  to  the  re- 
moval of  all  ideas  of  limitation;  to  the  prevalent  no- 
tions of  worlds  without  number.  This  accounts  for 
the  vague  character  of  Milton's  cosmography.  He 
had  the  modern  point  of  view  in  this  regard,  as 
compared  with  the  concise  and  exact  character  of 
Dante's  ideas.  For  Dante,  when  he  came  to  write 
The  Divine  Comedy,  the  universe  was  a  ready  pre- 
pared stage,  known  to  many  men,  and  hence  sure 


DANTE  29, 

to  be  intelligible  to  many  of  his  readers.  Heaven, 
Hell  and  Purgatory,  had  as  clearly  marked  positions 
in  the  thirteenth-century  universe  as  Europe,  Asia 
and  Africa  have  on  a  terrestrial  globe  of  the  pres- 
ent day. 

The  universe  v^^hich  forms  the  stage  for  The  Di- 
vine Comedy  consisted  of  four  great  provinces,  so 
to  speak:  Earth,  the  province  of  living  men;  Hell, 
the  province  of  the  dead  who  are  eternally  damned; 
Purgatory,  the  province  of  the  dead  who,  because 
they  repented  while  still  alive,  expiate  their  sins 
with  the  knowledge  that  when  the  slate  is  clean  they 
shall  enter  Heaven;  Paradise,  the  province  of  the 
elect;  those  who,  soon  or  late  in  reaching  Heaven, 
are,  from  the  instant  of  their  arrival  there,  fixed  in 
an  abode  of  everlasting  blessedness.  The  Divine 
Comedy  is  acted,  so  to  speak,  in  the  three  last  of 
these  provinces — Hell,  Purgatory,  Paradise.  In  other 
words,  the  stage  is  set  in  three  different  places,  but 
each  of  these  places  was  as  clearly  defined  in  the 
minds  of  Dante's  contemporaries  as  the  banqueting 
hall  of  Cardinal  Wolsey's  palace  at  Hampton  Court 
is  a  fixed  place  in  the  mind  of  a  present-day  Ameri- 
can who  knows  Shakespeare's  Henry  VIII,  be  he 
reader,  or  theater-goer,  or  both.  To  read  The  Di- 
vine Comedy  intelligently,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a 
clear  conception  of  the  stage,  which  means  knowing 
where  one  is  at  any  given  time.  To  get  such  a  con- 
ception is  by  no  means  as  difficult  as  many  suppose. 


30  DANTE 

The  Earth,  thought  of  as  a  globe,  was  the  accepted 
center  of  the  universe.  The  northern  hemisphere 
was  land;  the  southern,  water.  Jerusalem  was  sit- 
uated at  what  we  think  of  as  the  North  Pole,  just 
half-way  between  the  River  Ganges,  to  the  east,  and 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  to  the  west.  Hell  was  within 
the  Earth ;  Purgatory  outside ;  Paradise  above.  This 
needs  explanation. 

Hell  was  a  vast  funnel-shaped  hole,  the  nozzle 
of  which  was  at  the  center  of  the  Earth,  and  the  top» 
a  great  circular  opening,  the  center  of  which  was 
just  under  Jerusalem,  at  the  North  Pole.  Lucifer 
had  his  seat  at  the  center  of  gravity,  where  he 
stopped  falling,  i.  e.,  at  the  center  of  the  Earth,  or 
apex  of  Hell.  The  reason  for  this,  as  well  as  the 
shape  and  location  of  Hell,  was  perfectly  plain  to 
Dante.  It  was  this.  At  the  time  when  the  hostile 
angels  rebelled  against  God,  their  leader,  Lucifer, 
was  thrown  out  of  Heaven  and  fell  to  Earth.  The 
Earth  drew  back  in  horror,  and  the  hole  so  produced 
made  Hell,  as  it  has  already  been  described.  At  the 
same  time  the  water  of  the  northern  hemisphere 
all  ran  to  the  south.  Thus  the  northern  hemisphere 
came  to  be  land,  and  the  southern,  water. 

Purgatory  was  a  high  cone-shaped  mountain  to 
be  thought  of,  as  we  should  say,  at  the  South  Pole. 
The  top  of  this  mountain  was  occupied  by  the 
Earthly  Paradise,  or  Eden.    It  appears  to  have  been 


DANTE  31 

a  matter  of  arbitrary  choice  on  Dante's  part  in 
placing  the  Earthly  Paradise,  or  Eden,  at  the  top  of 
the  mountain  of  Purgatory.  Hitherto  it  had  been 
located  in  Asia.  As  a  matter  of  the  logical  structure 
of  his  stage,  this  crowning  Purgatory  with  Eden, 
is  a  stroke  of  genius  quite  in  keeping  with  the  genius 
of  Dante  which  makes  itself  apparent  at  so  many 
points  throughout  the  structure  of  his  colossal  work. 
The  reason  why  Purgatory  was  at  the  South  Pole, 
and  was  cone-shaped,  could  be  clearly  explained  by 
Dante  and  his  age.  When  the  Earth  drew  back  be- 
fore the  falling  Lucifer,  and  the  void  of  Hell  was 
formed,  some  arrangement  had  to  be  made  for  the 
dislodged  material.  This  material,  as  it  were,  flowed 
out  through  the  nozzle  of  the  funnel  of  Hell,  the 
nozzle  being  thought  of  as  a  pipe-like  continuation  of 
the  apex  of  Hell,  straight  through  to  the  opposite 
side,  the  South  Pole.  At  this  point,  the  South  Pole, 
the  material  dislodged  during  the  formation  of  the 
funnel,  i.  e.,  Hell,  within  the  body  of  the  Earth,  was 
piled  without,  or  upon  the  body  of  the  Earth,  in  a 
cone-shaped  mountain.  This  mountain,  which  was 
Purgatory,  had  the  same  form  as  Hell,  but  reversed, 
the  apex  of  the  former  being  up,  whereas  that  of 
the  latter  was  down.  This  mountain  stood  in  the 
midst  of  the  waters  of  the  southern  hemisphere.  As 
Dante,  for  his  purposes,  changed  the  orthodox  lo- 
cation of  the  Earthly  Paradise  from  Asia  to  the  top 


32  DANTE 

of  the  sea-girt  mountain,  so  he  also  changed  the 
orthodox  location  of  Purgatory,  which  was  under- 
ground, or  inside  the  Earth,  to  a  place  outside. 

We  now  come  to  the  third  part  of  Dante's  great 
universal  stage,  the  Heavens  and  all  therein.  First, 
Dante  thought  of  the  world,  as  we  speak  of  it  to- 
day, in  its  four  primal  elements  of  earth,  water,  air 
and  fire.  The  globe  consisted  of  earth  and  water 
as  they  appear  to  the  sense  of  sight.  This  was  en- 
cased in  two  hollow  hemispheres,  the  inner,  that 
next  the  Earth,  being  air;  the  outer,  that  beyond  the 
air,  fire.  If  we  now  keep  in  mind  this  globe  of 
earth  and  water,  air  and  fire,  as  a  distinct  unit,  a 
sphere  unit,  fixed  and  motionless,  we  shall  have 
the  essential  fact,  or  information,  around  which  to 
construct  a  clear  idea  of  Dante's  universe. 

Surrounding  this  spheral  unit,  the  Earth,  there  are 
nine  concentric  hollow  hemispheres.  These  are  the 
Heavens.  Each  bears  the  name  of  the  particular 
heavenly  body  which  occupies  it.  All  whirl  around 
the  Earth  as  a  center.  The  sphere  nearest  the  Earth 
moves  slowest  In  order,  as  these  spheres  are  re- 
moved from  the  Earth,  in  other  words,  as  they  are 
nearer  the  throne  of  God  which  is  at  the  heart  of 
Paradise,  the  faster  they  whirl.  In  order  outward, 
from  the  Earth,  come  the  Heavens  of  the  Moon, 
Mercury,  Venus,  the  Sun,  of  Mars,  Jupiter,  Saturn, 
and  finally  of  the  Fixed  Stars.  Outside  of  the 
Heaven  of  the  Fixed  Stars  is  the  Primum  Mobile, 


DANTE  33 

or  the  First  Moving  Heaven.  Beyond  this  ninth 
Heaven,  the  ninth  of  these  hollow,  concentric,  whirl- 
ing hemispheres,  was  Space,  the  Empyrean,  where 
time  was  not,  nor  matter,  nor  motion,  but  where 
from  the  beginning  God  was,  and  where  with  Him 
forever  dwell  His  angels  and  His  elect. 

Having  reached  the  Empyrean  we  are  close  upon 
the  nine  so-called  circles  of  Paradise,  nine  concentric 
circles,  or  as  they  are  usually  called,  the  Heavenly 
Hierarchy,  which  forever  swing  about  the  point  at 
which  God  is  throned  from  everlasting  to  everlast- 
ing. The  circle  nearest  God  moves  fastest.  The 
circle  farthest  away  moves  slowest.  Their  motion 
is  caused  by  the  joy  and  complete  satisfaction  which 
comes  of  being  placed  by  Him,  each  at  due  distance 
from  Him.  Desire  to  be  at  one  with  Grod,  and  the 
perfect  accord  with  His  will  in  establishing  degrees 
of  distance  for  each  circle,  lead  the  creatures  in- 
habiting these  circles,  really  the  circles  themselves, 
to  move  ceaselessly  around  Him.  This  was  the 
medieval  way  of  accounting  for  the  origin  and  con- 
tinuance of  the  motion  of  the  circles  or  Heavenly 
Hierarchy.  Beginning  with  the  Seraphs,  who  were 
nearest  to  God,  the  nine  orders  of  creatures  which 
composed  this  Hierarchy  were,  in  degree  of  their 
distance  from  the  center,  and  in  direction  outward, 
beginning  with  the  Seraphs  who  were  nearest  to 
God — Cherubs,  Thrones,  Dominions,  Virtues, 
Powers,    Princes,    Archangels   and   Angels.     The 


34  DANTE 

general  name  for  these  creatures  was  Intelligences, 
and  through  them  the  influence  of  God  was  con- 
veyed to  the  Heavens.  Through  this  occult  influence, 
and  by  the  unseen  agency  of  the  Intelligences,  the 
Heavens  were  set  whirling  about  the  Earth.  The 
Heavens,  in  turn,  through  occult  influence  and  hid- 
den power,  affected  the  Earth  itself,  and  brought 
about  all  changes  such  as  the  birth,  growth  and 
death  of  animals  and  plants,  and  exerted  control 
over  the  lives  and  dispositions  of  men. 

A  homely  and  simple  experiment  in  construction 
•will  make  Dante's  stage,  the  universe,  as  he  con- 
ceived of  it,  clear  to  any  one  who  finds  the  foregoing 
description  puzzling.  All  that  is  necessary  in  mak- 
ing the  experiment  or  demonstration  is  an  apple,  a 
bit  of  cardboard  and  a  string.  We  will  begin  with 
the  Heavenly  Hierarchy.  Cut  the  cardboard  to  a 
round  and  put  the  string  through  the  center,  knot- 
ting it  so  that  the  cardboard  will  remain  in  place. 
Draw  nine  concentric  circles  about  the  point  where 
the  string  pierces  the  round  card.  The  point  of 
piercing  will  represent  the  place  where  God  is,  and 
the  nine  rings  on  the  card  the  nine  Intelligences, 
from  inner  Seraphs  to  outer  Angels. 

Next  we  will  make  Hell  and  Purgatory  in  their 
proper  relations  to  Paradise.  First,  Hell.  Pierce 
the  apple  with  the  string  (a  needle  will  help),  taking 
the  string  in  where  the  stem  was,  and  out  where  the 
flower  was.     These  two  points  will  represent  the 


DANTE  35 

North  and  South  Poles,  respectively,  on  the  apple, 
which  represents  the  Earth.  With  a  sharp  pen-knife 
cut  out  as  nearly  as  can  be  a  cone-shaped  piece  of  ap- 
ple— the  base  of  this  cone  being  a  circle  around  the 
place  where  the  string  enters  the  apple,  and  the 
apex  of  the  cone  at  the  center  of  the  apple.  Remove 
this  and  the  cavity  which  it  leaves  will  represent 
Hell,  the  apex  of  which  is  at  the  center  of  the 
Earth — the  center  of  the  apple. 

Now  take  the  cut-out  cone  of  apple  and  put 
the  string  in  at  the  middle  of  its  base,  and  bring  it 
out  as  near  as  possible  to  the  point.  Then  slide  the 
cone  up  the  string  until  the  base  is  close  to  the  apple. 
Knot  the  string  for  sake  of  security.  This  cone, 
the  exact  counterpart  of  Hell,  only  reversed,  will 
represent  the  mountain  of  Purgatory,  at  the  top,  or 
point  of  which,  was  Dante's  Earthly  Paradise. 

Imagination  must  help  complete  the  experiment. 
The  nine  Heavens  we  may  picture  as  nine  concentric, 
transparent  spheres  enclosing  the  apple,  or  Earth. 
These  whirl  individually  around  the  Earth  and  in 
each  is  set  sun,  moon,  or  planet  as  already  de- 
scribed. 

Looking  at  our  model  we  should  now  fix  in  mind 
a  few  further  points.  A  line  drawn  about  the  apple 
half-way  between  the  poles  and  at  right  angles  to 
the  string  will  represent  the  Equator.  The  northern 
hemisphere  is  to  be  thought  of  as  land — the  opening 
to  Hell  as  crusted  over  and  forming  a  part  of  the 


36  DANTE 

Earth's  surface.  On  this  crust,  Jerusalem.  The 
southern  hemisphere  is  water  out  of  the  midst  of 
which  rises  Purgatory,  whose  summit,  the  Earthly 
Paradise,  pierces  the  Heavens  and  is  above  the  reach 
of  atmospheric  disturbance  of  any  kind;  hence  the 
unchanging  perfection  of  its  cHmate.  In  its  main 
masses,  and  in  their  distribution,  as  has  been  de- 
scribed, this  was  Dante's  idea  of  the  universe — the 
stage  of  his  great  drama  La  Divina  Commedia. 

THE  ACTORS^ 

No  question  is  more  natural  than  that  asked  by 
a  reader  when  he  first  takes  up  The  Divine  Comedy : 
"What  are  these  people,  these  ghosts  of  men  and 
vvomen,  these  creatures  that  talk  like  human  be- 
ings but  are  not  flesh,  or  subject  to  gravity,  or  any 
other  of  the  laws  which  condition  matter,  what  are 
they;  what  did  Dante  think  they  were,  they  whom 
he  met,  and  talked  with,  in  the  trifold  realm  of  the 
other  world;  they  whose  talk  he  reports  in  The 
Comedy?"  It  is  easy  to  say  that  they  were  dis- 
embodied spirits,  ghosts,  or  the  like,  but  this  answer 
will  be  a  bit  too  vague  to  satisfy  an  insistent  and 
really  intelligent  questioner.  At  least,  if  we  say 
disembodied  spirits,  ghosts,  we  are  in  duty  bound 
to  make  our  own  ideas  about  them  plain;  as  far  as 
possible,  Dante's  idea  about  them.  It  is,  as  Vol- 
taire said,  necessary  to  define  terms.  Defining  the 
ghosts,  or  ghostly  personages  who  inhabited  Dante's 

^See  Purgatory,  XXV :  page  218. 


DANTE  37 

other  world,  may  be  done  by  calling  him  or  her,  as 
the  case  may  be,  the  spiritual  essence,  or  forma  of 
that  same  him  or  her  when  in  the  flesh,  and  upon 
Earth.  The  word  forma  meant,  as  used  in  Dante's 
time,  the  intangible  but  shaping  principle  which 
gives  men  and  women  the  guise  by  which  they  are 
known  in  life.  An  analogy  may  help  us  at  this 
point.  If  we  turn  on  the  gas,  but  do  not  ignite  it, 
we  see  nothing.  If  we  touch  a  match  to  the  gas 
we  see  a  flame  of  given  shape.  The  unlighted  body 
of  gas,  invisible  and  intangible,  when  ignited  be- 
comes a  visible  and  recognizable  object  of  fixed  di- 
mensions, a  flame.  We  know  that  the  body  of  gas 
is  the  shaping  principle  of  the  flame.  Just  so  with 
man.  The  forma,  a  ghost,  comes  into  the  field  of 
mortal  vision,  and  is  made  evident,  when,  for  a 
time,  it  is  "clothed  on"  or  clad  with  flesh.  At  death 
this  flesh  drops  away,  but  the  forma,  the  forma- 
tive principle  so  to  speak,  though  returned  to  the 
realm  of  the  unseen  and  the  intangible,  remains,  and 
the  man  becomes  a  ghost.  These  ghosts  are  the  den- 
izens of  the  other  world;  of  Hell,  Purgatory  and 
Paradise,  and  are  always  to  be  met  there  though  not 
here — at  least  not  commonly,  according  to  the  pre- 
vailing notions  of  the  twentieth  century.  The  fun- 
damental conception  of  Dante's  ghosts  or  spiritual 
inhabitants  of  the  other  world  is  based  upon,  and 
most  intimately  related  to,  the  Christian  scheme  of 
immortality.   Dante's  idea  of  the  forma,  the  ghost. 


38  DANTE 

i.  e.,  the  essential  and  Indestructible  part  of  a  man,  Is 
set  forth  nowhere  more  plainly  than  in  the  eighth 
chapter  and  the  third  book  of  Carlyle's  Sartor  Re- 
sarins  J  the  last  paragraphs  of  which  chapter  can 
not  be  read  with  too  much  care  by  any  one,  who,  on 
taking  up  The  Divine  Comedy,  asks  himself  the 
question,  "What  manner  of  folk  were  they  whom 
Dante  met,  saw  and  conversed  with  on  his  journey 
through  the  other  world?" 

"Nature,  which  Is  the  Time-vesture  of  God,  and 
reveals  Him  to  the  wise,  hides  Him  from  the  fool- 
ish. ...  I  say,  sweep  away  the  Illusion  of 
Time;  compress  the  three  score  years  Into  three 
minutes;  .  .  .  Are  we  not  spirits,  that  are 
shaped  Into  a  body.  Into  an  Appearance;  and  that 
fade  away  again  into  air  and  Invisibility?  This 
is  no  metaphor,  It  Is  a  simple  scientific  fact;  we 
start  out  of  Nothingness,  take  figure,  and  are  Ap- 
paritions; round  us,  as  round  the  veriest  Spectre, 
is  Eternity;  and  to  Eternity  minutes  are  as  years 
and  aeons. 

"O  Heaven,  It  Is  mysterious,  it  is  awful  to  con- 
sider that  we  not  only  carry  each  a  future  Ghost 
within  Him;  but  are  in  very  deed,  Ghosts!  These 
Limbs,  whence  had  we  them ;  this  stormy  Force ;  this 
life-blood  with  its  burning  Passion?  They  are  dust 
and  shadow;  a  Shadow-system  gathered  round  our 
Me;  wherein,  through  some  moments  or  years,  the 
Divine  Essence  is  to  be  revealed  In  the  Flesh. 


DANTE  35! 

"Generation  after  generation  takes  to  itself  the 
Form  of  a  Body;  and  forth-issuing  from  Cim- 
merian Night,  on  Heaven's  mission  appears  .  .  . 
and  then  the  Heaven-sent  is  recalled;  his  earthly 
Vesture  falls  away,  and  soon  even  to  sense  becomes 
a  vanished  Shadow." 

It  is  this  Shadow  which  was  before  our  birth, 
which  is  the  reality  of  our  mundane  existence, 
which  shall  be  our  ghost  after  we  have  left  the 
world,  eternal  in  Hell  or  Heaven,  this  Shadow  of 
Carlyle's,  Carlyle's  Ghost  within  us — it  was  this,  and 
countless  millions  of  them,  whom  Dante  saw  on  his 
journey  through  the  regions  of  the  dead. 

TIME  IN  THE  DIVINE  COMEDY 

Throughout  the  poem  Dante  is  most  precise  as 
to  the  day,  and  hour  of  the  day,  on  which,  and  at 
which,  events  recorded,  took  place.  As  with  the 
detail  of  places,  and  minute  particulars  concerning 
scenes  and  persons  represented,  so  with  time,  the 
poet  is  most  punctilious  about  rendering  every  line 
in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  a  sense  of  reality  in 
the  reader's  mind;  that  sense  of  literary  reahty 
which  only  the  very  greatest  men  ever  succeed  in 
producing.  He  would  never  have  his  reader  lose 
faith  for  the  length  of  a  single  line  in  the  awful 
and  beautiful  reality  of  the  regions  beyond  death 
where  all  men  are  meeting,  or  shall  meet,  their  just 
deserts.    In  his  own  mind  there _was  no  vagueness 


40  .  DANTE 

Its  to  when  an  event  occurred,  nor  where,  nor  how. 
In  his  manner  of  presentation  there  is  no  vagueness 
or  dimness  of  touch  about  anything  or  anybody  re- 
ferred to.  The  result  is  a  corresponding  lack  of 
vagueness  in  his  reader's  mind. 

The  poem  opens  on  Good  Friday  in  the  year 
1300,  and  it  was  on  the  evening  of  the  same 
Good  Friday  that  Dante,  with  Virgil,  entered 
Hell.  They  issued  forth  from  Hell  a  little  before 
sunrise  on  the  following  Sunday,  Easter  morning. 
At  noon  on  the  following  Wednesday,  Dante, 
with  Beatrice,  entered  Paradise.  Thus  in  the 
darkness  of  approaching  night  he  went  down  to 
Hell.  At  the  hopeful  hour  of  dawn  he  came  to 
Purgatory.  With  the  meridian  splendor  of  high 
noon  he  passed  up  into  Paradise.  In  the  choice  of 
all  three  of  these  times  the  poetic  intention  is,  of 
course,  obvious.  Lesser  divisions  of  time,  and  pre- 
cise reference  to  hours  are  marked  throughout  the 
poem  by  repeated  mention  of  the  position  of  the 
sun  and  stars. 

C        FREEDOM    OF   THE   WILL   THE   CORNER-STONE 
OF   DANTE's   BELIEF 

Dante  attributed  all  things  in  Heaven  and  Earth 
to  Love.  With  him,  as  with  St.  Paul,  it  was  the 
uttermost  force,  the  force  by  which  all  that  is,  can 
be  transfigured.  Because  of  the  love  that  was  in 
Him;  because  He  "is  love,"  did  God  create  all  that 


DANTE  41 

He  created.  The  idea  is  that  He  wanted  to  share 
His  own  supreme  good  with  others,  inanimate  things 
and  animals ;  Hving  beings,  men  and  angels.  As  He 
created  all  these  He  made  them  all  alike,  i.  e.,  each, 
in  its  own  kind,  perfect.  There  was  no  possibility 
for  wrong  because  there  was  no  choice  on  the  part 
of  any  thing  or  creature.  This  was  the  state  of 
man  in  Eden,  the  Earthly  Paradise.  Nothing — 
mankind,  animal,  thing — under  this  condition  had 
individuality,  because  individuality  implies  action 
which  is  the  result  of  the  power  to  make  a  choice. 
This  right  to  choose,  what  is  called  freedom  of  the 
will,  God  then  bestowed  on  men  and  angels,  only 
two  ranks  of  His  creatures.  Beatrice  in  Paradise 
says  to  Dante,  "The  greatest  gift  which  God  in  His 
bounty  bestowed  in  creating  .  .  .  and  that  which 
He  prizes  most,  was  the  freedom  of  the  will,  with 
which  the  creatures  that  have  intelligence  (men 
and  angels)  they  all  and  they  alone,  were  and  are 
endowed." 

Thus,  endowed  with  the  right  to  choose,  and  with 
love,  men  and  angels  become  capable  of  sin  which 
is  nothing  more  than  the  desire  or  love  for  what 
is  not  good,  i.  e.,  not  in  accord  with  the  will  of 
God.  So,  when  God  made  men  and  angels  free  to 
sin,  they  responded,  Adam  and  Lucifer,  and  for 
their  sins  suffered  expulsion  from  Eden,  and  ex- 
pulsion from  Paradise,  because,  with  the  gift  of  free 
will,  God  stipulated  for  an  absolute  personal  liabil- 


42  DANTE 

ity  for  the  choice  made.  You  shall  act  as  you  like, 
and,  if  you  do  wrong,  you  shall  suffer.  If  you  re- 
pent of  your  sins  in  time,  literally  in  time,  i.  e.,  be- 
fore you  die,  before  you  quit  time  for  eternity,  you 
shall  be  allowed  to  work  out  a  due  punishment  in 
Purgatory,  and  when  this  is  done,  you  shall  go  to 
the  realms  of  the  blest.  Paradise.  If,  however,  you 
do  not  repent  before  death,  i.  e.,  in  time,  you  shall 
go  to  Hell  forever.  This,  in  brief,  is  the  system  on 
which  Dante  represents  God  as  dealing  with  man- 
kind, a  system  implying  perfect  freedom  to  act  with 
unswerving  consequences  following  on  every  act, 
the  least  as  well  as  the  greatest. 

TWO  WAYS  Of  READING  THE  DIVINE  COMEDY 

In  The  Divine  Comedy  Dante  relates  an  imagina- 
tive experience,  but  he  couches  that  experience  in 
the  terms  of  every-day  reality.  There  are  two  ways 
in  which  this  experience  may  be  read.  One,  as  an 
exceedingly  interesting  narrative  of  men  and  women 
in  strange  regions,  suffering  under,  or  delighting 
in,  the  just  rewards  of  their  various  sins  and  vir- 
tues, and  the  varying  degrees  of  each.  Dante  visits 
these  men  and  women  and  talks  with  them,  gather- 
ing information  about  their  different  states,  and  the 
places  they  are  in.  This  material  he  uses  as  the  sub- 
stance of  the  narrative  of  his  poem.  Now  these 
people  are  the  dead,  and  the  places  in  which  he  visits 


DANTE  43 

them  are  Hell,  Purgatory  and  Paradise.  Their 
conditioning  is  that  of  just  reward.  In  a  word, 
Dante  describes  his  journey  to  the  other  world  as 
made  by  him,  while  still  in  the  flesh.  The  other 
world  is  that  eternal  dwelling  place  where  unfleshed 
humanity  has  what  is  usually  called  its  "future 
life."  Although  the  experiences  of  his  journey,  like 
the  journey  itself,  are  all  figments  of  his  mind,  he 
makes  each  one  of  them  seem  true  and  real  because 
he  believed  in  them,  and  possessed  the  power  to 
clothe  his  belief  in  that  seeming  reality  which  is 
the  rare  and  precious  gift  of  great  art.  A  child  can 
read  the  story  of  this  journey  and  never  suspect  that 
the  characters  are  other  than  live  men  and  women 
moving  about  in  real  places.  This  is  the  way  that 
one  should  first  read  The  Divine  Comedy — read  it 
for  the  story,  and  get  acquainted  with  the  charac- 
ters. The  second  way  of  reading  it  should  not  be 
attempted  until  one  has  made  himself  moderately 
conversant  with  the  simple,  straightforward  narra- 
tive, and  the  places  visited.  Every  one  of  these  is  a 
marvel  of  description.  This  way  of  reading  implies 
the  discovery  of  the  inner  and  the  true  purpose  of 
the  poem;  its  significance  as  an  exposition  of  the 
moral  laws  governing  human  life. 

Thus  and  so,  on  purpose,  and  for  attaining  de- 
sired ends,  do  men  act.  Record  of  this  action  forms 
the  narrative.  As  this  action  is  good  or  bad,  and  in 
just  such  degrees  as  it  is  good  or  bad,  does  an  ab- 


44  DANTE 

solutely  just  God  mete  out  punishment  or  reward. 
The  moral  significance  of  the  poem  is  cast  in  the 
form  of  an  absolutely  consistent  allegory,  hence  a 
most  unusual  and  most  wonderful  allegory.  This 
allegory  runs  from  beginning  to  end,  unbroken;  a 
matter  of  intense  and  illusive  interest,  at  one  time 
quite  apparent  and  on  the  surface;  at  another,  con- 
cealed deep  within  the  body  of  description  and  nar- 
rative. It  proceeds  like  an  underlying  theme  in  a 
symphony.  It  appears  and  disappears,  but  is  al- 
ways present,  like  the  dominant  idea  in  a  Greek 
tragedy.  It  persists  like  a  paramount  bias  toward 
honesty  or  dishonesty  throughout  the  life  of  a  man, 
present  to  the  end,  whether  easily  seen  or  only  dis- 
coverable with  utmost  difficulty.  The  story  or  nar- 
rative is  the  vehicle  of  the  allegory,  and  includes  the 
allegory,  but  of  the  two  the  allegory  is  the  more 
important  because  it  is  the  essential  part.  It  is  the 
part  which  tells  us,  when  we  grasp  it,  what  is  com- 
mon to  all  men  in  all  ages,  namely,  the  moral  bear- 
ings of  their  existence  upon  this  Earth,  and  the  un- 
avoidable consequences  of  their  acts,  whereas  the 
narrative  tells  us  only  what  happens  to  specific  per- 
sons. The  narrative  deals  with  the  state  of  indi- 
viduals. The  allegory  deals  with  the  eternal  condi- 
tions of  the  human  type.  Mankind  is  the  type.  Men 
are  the  individuals.  The  narrative,  the  description, 
and  the  talk  of  the  actors  in  The  Divine  Comedy 
make  up  its  body.    The  allegory  is  the  soul  of  that 


DANTE  45 

body.  No  words  can  set  forth  all  this  as  clearly  as 
Dante's  own.  They  are  from  a  letter  addressed  to 
a  nobleman  of  Verona  to  whom  part  of  The  Comedy 
was  dedicated.  "The  subject  is  the  state  of  the 
soul  after  death,  simply  considered.  But  allegori- 
cally  taken,  its  subject  is  man,  according  as  by  his 
good  or  ill  deserts  he  renders  himself  liable  to  the 
reward  or  punishment  of  justice." 

The  attraction  of  The  Divine  Comedy,  for  every 
new  generation,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  contains  a 
fascinating  and  lively  story  of  daily  life  as  lived 
by  all  men  and  all  women  at  all  times ;  a  story  of  love 
and  hate  and  all  of  action  which  they  beget.  The 
permanent  value  of  The  Divine  Comedy  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  a  vivid  exposition  of  the  essence  of 
life.  It  is  an  exposition  of  that  which  constitutes 
the  joy  and  the  sorrow  of  existence  as  represented 
by  the  uninterrupted  succession  of  generations,  that 
ceaseless  stream  of  life  which  we  recognize  in  the 
unending  births  and  never  ending  deaths  of  indi- 
viduals. 


THE  DIVINE  COMEDY 


HELL 

CANTO   I 

The  opening  scene  of  The  Divine  Comedy  is 
laid  in  a  gloomy  wood  at  the  foot  of  a  steep  hill. 
It  is  in  this  place  that  Dante  represents  himself 
as  gone  astray,  and  unable  to  find  the  right  path. 
He  is  terrified  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  lion, 
a  wolf  and  a  leopard.  The  place,  as  well  as  the 
three  beasts,  is  to  be  taken  allegorically.  The  place 
means  this  world,  gone  wrong,  and  so  gone,  be- 
cause of  the  proneness  of  human  nature  to  yield 
before  the  temptations  of  pride  (the  lion),  greed 
(the  wolf) ,  and  lust  (the  leopard) .  Jeremiah  v :  6, 
"A  Hon  out  of  the  forest  shall  slay  them,  and  a 
wolf  of  the  evenings  shall  spoil  them,  a  leopard 
shall  watch  over  their  cities;  every  one  that  goeth 
out  thence  shall  be  torn  in  pieces."  At  this  moment 
of  need  the  shade  of  Virgil,  in  accord  with  the 
will  of  God,  and  the  request  of  Beatrice,  appears, 
and  the  drama  opens.  It  is  the  greatest  of  problem 
plays ;  problem  set  and  problem  solved,  human  yield- 
ing, and  human  resistance  to  pride,  greed,  lust — ^the 

49 


50 


DANTE 


final  outcome  of  each  here  on  Earth,  and  in  the 
world  to  come. 


^^ 


Unba.fUt.\.i. 
--L.vttM 

-  Glutton* 

Wrathful*  Mtla.^^9l>t 


:urA%rt.T» 


v^;^ 


•AfittnoTO. 
Ptofcmacc 


HELL 


When  half  my  days  were  spent  I  found  myself 
in  a  dark  wood,  and  off  the  right  path.  Ah  me! 
how  hard  it  is  to  picture  that  forest,  wild,  difficult, 
and  misleading,  the  mere  thought  of  which  brings 


DANTE  51 

back  terror!  So  bitter  was  it  that  death  seems 
little  worse.  But  to  make  plain  the  good  of  it  all 
to  me,  I  will  tell  what  I  saw  there. 

I  can  not  say  precisely  how  I  came  into  this  for- 
est, so  dulled  were  my  senses  at  the  moment  when 
I  turned  from  the  true  way.  At  all  events  after 
I  had  reached  the  foot  of  a  hill  where  the  heart- 
piercing  and  fearful  valley  ended,  I  looked  up, 
and  saw  its  summit  and  high  shoulders  gleam- 
ing in  the  light  of  the  sun  which  leads  men  right 
along  every  road. 

After  resting  my  weary  body  a  little  I  again  set 
forth  upon  the  barren  hillside,  the  firm  foot  al- 
ways the  lower.  And,  behold!  almost  at  the  be- 
ginning of  my  climb  there  appeared  a  she-leopard, 
lithe,  and  very  nimble,  with  spotted  skin.  She  did 
not  make  way  for  me,  nay,  blocked  my  road  so 
that  many  times  I  thought  to  turn  back. 

The  time  was  early  morning,  and  the  Sun  was 
rising  along  with  the  stars  that  were  with  Him  when 
Divine  Love  first  set  those  beautiful  things  in  mo- 
tion ;  so  that  the  hour  and  the  season  gave  me  good 
hope  of  prevailing  over  the  wild  beast  with  the 
spotted  hide.  But  it  was  different  when  a  lion  ap- 
peared and  drew  near,  ravenous  with  hunger,  toss- 
ing his  head,  so  that  the  very  air  trembled  with 
fright;  and  then  a  she-wolf  which  in  her  leanness 
seemed  naught  but  a  creature  of  hunger,  and  before 
this  time  to  have  made  wretched  the  lives  of  many 


52  DANTE 

men.     She  filled  my  heart  with  such  heavy  fore- 
bodings, that  I  lost  hope  of  reaching  the  hill  top. 

DANTE  NOW  FALLS  BACK  A  LITTLE 

While  I  was  on  my  downward  way,  one  who 
seemed  to  have  lost  the  use  of  his  voice  through  long 
silence  appeared.    I  cried : 

"Have  pity!  whatever  you  are,  whether  ghost  or 
living  man." 

VIRGIL 

"Not  man,  though  once  I  was  a  man,  and  my  par- 
ents were  Lombards,  and  each  a  citizen  of  Mantua. 
I  was  born  in  the  time  of  Julius,  though  late,  and  I 
lived  at  Rome  in  the  day  of  false  and  untrue  gods. 
I  was  a  poet  and  I  sang  of  that  just  son  of  Anchises 
who  left  Troy  after  proud  Ilion  had  been  burned. 
But  you,  why  do  you  return  to  trouble?  Why  do 
you  not  climb  the  pleasant  hill  which  is  the  source 
and  cause  of  every  joy?" 

DANTE 

"Are  you  then  that  Virgil  and  that  fount  which 
pours  forth  so  broad  a  stream  of  speech?  O  honor 
and  light  of  the  other  poets !  may  the  long  study  and 
the  great  love  now  serve  me  which  led  me  to  search 
your  writings.  You  are  my  master  and  my  model ; 
you  alone  are  he  from  whom  I  took  the  beautiful 


DANTE  53 

style  that  has  brought  me  praise.    Behold  the  beast 
which  made  me  turn ;  help  me  to  overcome  her."* 

VIRGIL 

"It  behooves  you  to  change  your  course  if  you 
wish  to  escape  from  this  wild  place.  Wherefore  I 
will  be  your  guide  and  lead  you  through  eternal 
Hell  where  you  shall  hear  shrieks  of  despair,  and 
see  the  unhappy  spirits  of  old  time  who  one  and  all 
invoke  the  second  death. ^  And  then  you  shall  see 
those  who  are  contented  in  penitential  fire  because 
they  hope  to  be  gathered  ultimately  to  the  blest,  to 
whom,  if  you  would  ascend,  there  shall  be  a  soul 
to  guide  you  worthier  than  I.  With  her  will  I 
leave  you ;  for  that  Emperor  who  reigns  thereabove 
denies,  because  I  was  not  compliant  to  His  law'  that 
through  me  any  one  should  enter  His  city.  There 
He  reigns  and  everywhere  governs.  There  is  His 
city  and  His  lofty  throne.  O  happy  soul  whom  He 
thereto  elects !" 

DANTE 

"Poet,  I  implore  you,  by  that  God  whom  you 


*  The  lion,  sjTiibol  of  pride. 

*  Either  those  who  express  a  wish  for  annihilation,  or  those 
who  proclaim  "the  second  death,"  meaning  the  state  of  the 
damned  after  the  last  judgment,  when  they  shall  be  reclothed 
in  their  flesh,  their  sufferings  increased  and  their  condition 
fixed  for  all  eternity.  "This  is  the  second  death."  Rev.  xx. 
12,  13,  14.  "He  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  sec- 
ond death."    Rev.  ii.  11. 

*  Vir^l  was  not  a  Christian. 


54  DANTE 

knew  not,  in  order  that  I  may  escape  these  present 
ills  and  worse,  that  you  guide  me  to  the  place  of 
which  you  have  just  spoken  so  that  I  may  look  upon 
the  gate  of  St.  Peter*  and  upon  those  in  misery  of 
whom  you  have  told !" 

CANTO  n 

The  same  wood  as  in  Canto  I.  Dante's  courage 
for  undertaking  the  journey  begins  to  ooze  away, 
but  Virgil  braces  him  up  by  telling  him  how 
Beatrice,  incited  by  St.  Lucy,  Dante's  patron  saint, 
herself  having  been  moved  to  action  on  his  behalf 
by  the  Blessed  Virgin,  came  to  him,  Virgil,  and  be- 
sought him  to  go  to  the  assistance  of  his  brother 
poet.  On  being  assured  of  all  this  heavenly  interest, 
Dante  declares  himself  ready,  and  the  two  set  out. 
The  canto  opens  with  one  of  those  beautiful  figures 
based  on  nature,  and  true  to  her  in  that  absolute 
manner  which  alone  characterizes  the  greatest  art. 
Homely,  lovely,  above  all,  direct  and  simple,  every 
figure  used  by  Dante  is  drawn  from  those  things 
which  all  men,  in  all  generations,  and  all  lands,  care 
for  and  know. 

The  day  was  dying  and  twilight  was  bringing 
rest  to  the  living  creatures  of  the  Earth  after  their 
labors,  and  I,  solitary,  was  preparing  for  the  hard- 

*  The  Gate  of  Purgatory. 


DANTE  55 

ships  of  a  journey  the  sufferings  of  which  my  mem- 
ory that  errs  not  shall  recount. 

Then  follows  an  appeal  for  help  to  the  Muses, 
and  to  Virgil,  and  lastly  a  declaration  about  his 
own  memory  whose  stores,  gathered  during  the 
journey,  he  is  about  to  draw  upon  in  writing  The 
Comedy.  But  at  this  point  the  natural  man,  over- 
come with  fear  at  what  he  is  about  to  undertake, 
again  shows  himself. 

DANTE 

"My  poet-guide,  consider  my  strength  before  you 
trust  me  to  the  abyss.  You  say*  that  -^neas  while 
still  in  the  flesh  went  to  the  immortal  world,  and 
was  there  in  the  body.  Through  his  journey  which 
you  celebrate,  he  learned  things  that  brought  him 
victory,  and  prepared  the  way  for  papal  authority.* 
Later,  St.  Paul  went  to  bring  back  support  for  that 
faith  which  is  the  beginning  of  the  way  of  salvation. 
But  I,  why  should  I  go?  and  by  whose  authority?  I 
am  not  i^neas,  I  am  not  Paul ;  neither  I,  nor  others, 
believe  me  worthy;  wherefore  if  I  consent  to  go  I 
fear  it  may  be  mad." 

VIRGIL 

"If  I  have  rightly  understood  your  words,  your 

^Alneid,  Book  VT. 

'The  success  of  ^neas,  his  victory  in  Italy,  made  the 
founding  of  the  Empire  possible,  and  Rome  a  place  for  the 
Papacv. 


56  DANTE 

very  soul  is  afraid,  which  condition  often  hinders  a 
man  so  that  it  turns  him  back  from  honorable  un- 
dertakings, as  a  mistake  of  sight  does  a  shying 
beast.  In  order  that  you  may  rid  yourself  of  this 
fear  I  will  tell  you  why  I  came,  and  what  I  heard 
at  the  instant  that  I  began  to  grieve  for  you.  I  was 
among  those  who  are  in  the  intermediate  state,' 
when  a  blessed  and  beautiful  lady*  called  me  in 
suchwise  that  I  besought  her  to  command.  Her 
eyes  were  brighter  than  the  stars,  and  she  began  to 
say  to  me  in  low,  sweet  tones,  an  angel's  voice :  *0 
courteous  Mantuan  spirit!  whose  fame  yet  lasts  on 
Earth,  and  shall  to  the  end  of  time !  a  friend  of  mine, 
but  not  of  fortune,  is  so  hindered  on  the  steep  hill- 
side that  he  has  turned  back  through  fright,  and, 
from  what  I  have  heard,  I  fear  may  already  be  so 
far  lost  as  to  make  help  vain.  Go  now,  and  with 
your  splendid  words,  and  with  whatever  is  needful 
for  his  deliverance,  aid  him  so  that  I  may  be  com- 
forted. I  am  Beatrice,  who  bid  you  go.  I  come 
from  a  place  whither  I  long  to  return.  Love  moved 
me,  and  makes  me  speak.  When  I  shall  again  be  in 
the  presence  of  my  Lord  I  will  often  praise  you  to 
Him.' 

"Then  she  was  silent  and  I  began:  *0  lady  of 
Virtue,  your  command,  were  it  already  in  execution, 
would  be  too  slowly  obeyed.    You  need  explain  your 


•  Limbo,  the  place  of  spirits  neither  saved  nor  damned. 

*  Beatrice. 


DANTE  57, 

will  no  further  to  me,  but  tell  me  pray,  why  you  are 
not  afraid  to  descend  into  this  place  from  that  spa- 
cious realm  whither  you  are  so  intent  to  return.' 

"  'Because  you  are  so  eager  to  know  I  will  tell 
you  briefly/  she  replied,  'why  I  do  not  fear  to  come 
down  here.  I  am  constituted  by  God,  thanks  be, 
such  that  your  sufferings  move  me  not.  A  gentle 
"Lady^  in  Paradise  feels  pity  for  the  straying  one  to 
whom  I  send  you,  so  that  she  breaks  Heaven's  stern 
rule.  It  was  she  who  called  St.  Lucy,  saying,  "Your 
faithful  one  has  need  of  you,  and  I  commend  him 
to  you !",  Thereon  St.  Lucy  came  to  the  place  where 
I  was,  and  said:  "Beatrice,  true  praise  of  God, 
why  do  you  not  go  to  the  succor  of  him  who  so 
loved  you  that  for  your  sake  he  came  forth  from 
the  common  crowd  ?**  Do  you  not  hear  the  anguish 
of  his  cry  ?  Do  you  not  see  how  death  threatens  him 
on  life's  rushing  torrent  which  is  no  less  terrible 
than  the  sea?"'" 

Virgil,  continuing  his  story,  says  that  Beatrice 
acted  instantly  on  hearing  the  words  of  St.  Lucy, 
and  descended  to  Limbo  where  she  found  him.  At 
her  request,  he,  Virgil,  set  out,  and  discovered  Dante 
on  the  desert  hillside. 


•The  Virgin. 

*  In  order  to  write  worthily  of  Beatrice  he  f?ave  his  life  to 
stiuly,  which  is  an  occupation  that  always  withdraws  a  man 
from  the  majority  of  his  fellow  men — the  throng. 


58  DANTE 

VIRGIL 

"And  I  came  to  you  as  she  wished,  and  took  you 
away  from  the  savage  beast.  What  is  it  then?  Why, 
why  do  you  draw  back?  Why  harbor  such  cow- 
ardice in  your  heart?  How  can  you  lack  daring 
and  assurance,  when  three  such  blessed  Ladies  care 
for  you  in  the  court  of  Heaven,  and  my  words 
pledge  you  so  much  good?" 

DANTE 

"Now  go,  for  truly  we  are  of  one  mind,  you 
guide,  you  lord,  you  master." 

The  first  and  second  cantos  form  an  introduction 
to  all  that  follows,  by  relating  the  cause  of  Dante's 
journey  to  the  other  world,  and  by  telling  how  it 
came  about  that  Virgil  was  his  guide.  These  two 
cantos,  or  scenes,  bring  guide  and  traveler  to  the 
Gate  of  Hell,  the  passing  of  which  occurs  in  the 
third  canto,  where  the  first  true  note  of  aw  fulness 
is  soimded,  and  the  twilight  of  the  underworld  be- 
gins to  deepen  on  them,  and  the  reader,  and  they, 
take  passage  with  Charon,  and  cross  the  River 
Acheron,  and  are  landed  on  the  bourn  from 
which  no  traveler  returns.  From  then  on  to  the 
end,  the  way  lies  downward  through  the  ever  nar- 
rowing circles  of  the  abyss,  and  among  the  spirits 
of  greater  and  greater  sinners  until,  in  the  very  pit 


DANTE  59 

of  Hell,  they  find  the  greatest  of  all  sinners,  Judas 
Iscariot.  Scene  upon  scene,  it  is  one  vast  picture, 
one  gigantic  act,  in  which  the  sense  of  horror,  and 
unavailing  regret,  expressed  in  the  words  of  the 
damned,  are  drawn  in  colors  of  ever  increasing 
darkness.  At  any  given  point  in  the  going-down 
one  has  the  impression  that  no  sufferings  more  ter- 
rible, or  words  more  hopeless,  or  acts  more  blasphe- 
mous, or  gloom  more  impenetrable  can  be.  At  the 
next  descent,  in  the  next  moment,  worse  and  blacker 
are  realized.  It  is  great  art,  this, — the  power  to 
command  the  gradation  of  one's  medium,  in  Dante's 
case  words,  in  such  delicate  manner  as  to  produce  an 
effect  of  steadily  increasing  fear  and  gloom,  unfal- 
teringly sustained  throughout  thirty-four  successive 
scenes.  Such  art  implies  fineness  of  touch,  strength 
and  precision  of  technique,  to  have  been  at  the  in- 
stant and  continuous  beck  of  the  poet.  It  reflects 
that  inner  or  spiritual  vigor,  and  exquisiteness, 
which  are  the  sine  qua  non  of  genius.  The  same  is 
just  as  true  of  the  really  great  musician,  sculptor, 
painter;  of  Beethoven,  Phidias,  Raphael.  With 
these,  as  with  Dante,  the  power  to  see  fine  distinc- 
tions, and  express  them,  which  is  art,  by  means  of 
gradation  of  medium,  is  the  sign  perfect.  In  every- 
day language,  great  artists  do  not  use  all  their  pow- 
der at  the  first  shot,  to  do  which,  in  the  literal  battle 
of  life,  is  no  less  a  proof  of  inferiority  than  in  the 
spiritual.    In  this  latter  battle,  the  great  art  of  the 


60  DANTE 

world  is  the  one  incalculably  precious  sign  of  vic- 
tory. 

CANTO   III 

The  Gate  of  Hell  leading  to  a  sort  of  ante- 
chamber, really  the  vestibule  of  Hell  proper,  which 
is  on  the  far  side  of  the  River  Acheron.  The 
scene  of  this  canto  is  laid  on  the  near  bank  of 
Acheron  and  just  within  the  gate. 

It  is  the  place  assigned  to  the  souls  of  the  indif- 
ferent, those  who  on  Earth  had  been  neither  good 
nor  bad;  those  really  who  through  all  generations 
form  the  congregation  of  Laodicea.  Revelation, 
iii:16.  "So  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and 
neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out  of  my 
mouth.'*  It  is  just  what  Heaven  and  Hell,  alike, 
had  done  to  these  souls.  Passing  among  them  the 
poets  come  to  the  bank  of  Acheron.  Here  an 
earthquake  and  lightning  terrify  Dante  and  he 
swoons. 

Above  the  gate  the  inscription : 

Through  me  is  the  way  into  the  woeful  city; 
through  me  is  the  way  to  everlasting  misery: 
through  me  is  the  way  that  leads  among  the  lost. 
Justice  moved  my  high  creator;  divine  Power,  su- 
preme Wisdom,  fundamental  Love  made  me.*    Be- 

*  Power,  Wisdom  and  Love  are  here  used  to  represent  the 
three  persons  of  the  Trinity:  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy 
Spirit,  respectively. 


DANTE  61 

fore  me  were  no  created  things,  save  eternal,  and 
I  eternal  last.^  Who  enters  must  abandon  every 
hope. 

DANTE 

"Master,  the  meaning  of  the  words  appals  me." 

VIRGIL 

"This  is  no  place  for  fear.  All  cowardice  should 
here  be  dead." 

Thereupon  Virgil  takes  him  by  the  hand,  gives 
him  a  reassuring  look,  and  leads  him  through  the 
gate  where,  within,  on  all  sides, 

laments,  sighs  and  loud  wails  resound  through  the 
starless  air,  and  where  are  heard  unknown  tongues, 
horrible  utterances,  words  of  agony,  accents  of 
wrath. 

DANTE 

"What  is  it  that  I  hear?  and  who  are  the  people 
that  appear  to  be  so  crushed  by  their  wretched- 
ness ?" 

VIRGIL 

"The  miserable  souls  of  those  who  lived  without 


*Hell  was  created  at  the  time  the  angels  rebelled  against 
God.  At  that  time  the  only  existent  things  were  imperishable 
and  everlasting,  such  as  angels  and  the  rest  of  the  hierarchy 
of  Heaven. 


62  DANTE 

infamy  and  without  praise.  They  are  mingled  with 
those  despicable  angels  who  neither  rebelled  against 
God  nor  were  on  His  side,  but  were  for  themselves.' 
The  Heavens  drove  them  out  lest  their  brightness 
should  be  dimmed  by  such  a  presence,  and  the  abyss 
of  Hell  refused  them  lest  the  damned  should  have 
some  joy  in  extolling  themselves  by  comparison." 

DANTE 

"Master,  what  is  so  grievous  to  them?  What 
makes  them  lament  so  bitterly  ?" 

VIRGIL 

"I  will  tell  you  in  few  words.  They  have  no 
hope  of  death,'  and  their  blind  existence  is  so  de- 
graded that  they  envy  every  other  lot.  Memory  of 
them  is  not  on  Earth ;  pity  disdains  them,  and  justice 
too.    Let  us  not  speak  of  them,  but  look  and  go  on." 

These  wretches  who  never  were  alive,  were 
naked,  and  much  stung  by  gad-flies  and  by  wasps; 
their  faces  were  streaked  with  blood,  which,  min- 
gling with  tears,  was  gathered  at  their  feet  by  sick- 
ening worms. 

Dante  and  Virgil  now  draw  near  to  the  banks  of 


"  The  second  death,  when  if  annihilation  could  come  to  them 
it  would  be  a  blessing. 


PANJE  (63 

Acheron  and  see  Charon,  keeper  of  the  ferry  of 
Hell,  coming  toward  the  shore  in  his  boat. 

CHARON 

"Woe  to  you,  wicked  souls !  hope  never  more  to 
see  the  day !  I  come  to  take  you  to  the  other  shore, 
into  everlasting  night,  into  heat,  and  cold.  But  you 
who  are  a  living  soul  depart  from  these  that  are 
dead." 

VIRGir 

"Be  not  vexed,  Charon;  it  is  so  willed  there 
where  is  power  to  carry  out  what  is  willed." 

A  marvelous  account  follows  of  how  all  the 
souls  on  the  bank,  blaspheming  and  weeping,  em- 
bark, Charon  beating  with  his  oar  whoever  lags. 
And  then,  in  contrast  to  this  picture  of  horror  and 
haste,  a  beautiful  figurative  passage  of  intense  calm, 
and  solemn  meaning,  one  of  the  many  lovely  pas- 
sages which,  sprinkled  throughout  the  Hell,  inten- 
sify the  aw  fulness  of  its  real  character, — at  times 
almost  beyond  endurance. 

As  leaves  in  autumn  drop  one  after  another  until 
the  bough  is  bare,  so  the  sinful  seed  of  Adam  when 
summoned,  cast  themselves,  one  by  one,  from  the 
shore.     Thus  they  cross  the  dark  waves,  and  ere 


64  DANTE 

they  are  landed  on  the  far  bank  a  new  crowd  has 
assembled  on  the  near. 

VIRGIL 

"My  son,  those  who  die  in  the  wrath  of  God  are 
all  assembled  here  from  every  land.  They  are  eager 
to  cross  the  stream  for  divine  justice  so  pricks  them 
that  fear  is  turned  into  desire.  A  good  soul  never 
passes  this  way:  and  so,  if  Charon  frets,  you  can 
easily  comprehend  the  meaning  of  his  words." 

Now  comes  the  earthquake,  the  wind  and  a  flash 
of  crimson  light,  and  Dante  falls  senseless  like  one 
on  whom  sleep  lays  hold. 

CANTO   IV 

The  far  side  of  Acheron.  The  first  circle  of 
Hell,  Limbo,  the  dwelling  place  of  the  souls  of 
unbaptized  infants,  and  upright  heathen,  those  who 
through  no  fault  of  their  own  did  not  know  God, 
in  the  technical  sense  of  being  initiated  into  Chris- 
tianity through  baptism  and  faith  in  Christ.  Dante 
and  Virgil  pass  through  the  outer  walls  of  a  castle 
and  discover  the  noble-minded  of  ancient  times 
gathered  on  the  green  within. 

They  are  met  by  Homer  and  the  other  poets. 
Virgil   points   out   the   philosophers,   among  them 


DANTE  65 

Plato  and  Aristotle;  also  famous  historical  person- 
ages, other  than  philosophers  and  poets.  The  pun- 
ishment of  this  circle  is  wholly  negative.  The  lines 
have  fallen  to  these  shades  in  pleasant  places,  and 
their  suffering  is  confined  to  an  eternal  desire,  with- 
out hope,  to  see  God. 

VIRGIL 

"Now  I  would  have  you  know,  before  you  go  on, 
that  these  were  people  who  lived  without  sin;  and 
though  they  have  merits,  it  is  not  enough  because 
they  did  not  have  baptism;  and  since  they  lived 
before  Christianity,  they  did  not  properly  worship 
God;  and  of  such  am  I  myself.  For  such  failing, 
and  not  for  other  fault  are  we  lost,  and  so  far 
hurt,  that  in  desire  we  continue  without  hope." 

Great  sorrow  came  into  my  heart  when  I  heard 
him,  because  I  realized  that  people  of  high  worth 
must  be  here.  y 

(DANTE 

"Tell  me,  my  master,  tell  me.  Lord,  did  ever  any 
one  who  later  reached  Paradise  go  forth  from  here, 
either  through  his  own  merit,  or  that  of  another?" 

VIRGIL 

"I  was  new  here*  when  I  saw  a  Mighty  One 


'Virgil  died  19  B.  C,  so  he  had  been  but  short  while  in 
Limbo  when  Christ  descended  into  HelL 


66  DANTE 

come  hither  crowned  with  sign  of  victory.  He  drew 
forth  the  shade  of  our  first  parent,  of  Abel  his  son, 
and  that  of  Noah,  of  Moses  the  law-giver,  Abra- 
ham the  patriarch,  and  David  the  King,  Israel  with 
his  father  and  his  descendants,  and  with  Rachel  for 
whose  sake  he  served  so  long,  and  many  others; 
and  these  he  carried  to  Paradise.  And  I  would 
have  you  understand  that  before  this  tlie  souls  of 
men  were  not  saved." 

They  now  come  to  the  walls  of  a  castle  and  enter 
it.  While  still  a  little  distant  Dante  recognizes  the 
fact  that  here  are  spirits  whose  condition  is  superior 
to  that  of  the  rank  and  file  in  Limbo. 

DANTE 

"O  thou  in  whom  learning  and  art  are  honored, 
who  are  these  who  have  such  glory,  that  it  exalts 
them  above  the  others?" 

VIRGIL 

"Their  glorious  reputation,  which  is  still  re- 
hearsed among  the  living,  gains  grace  in  Heaven 
which  so  uplifts  them." 

At  this  I  heard  a  voice : 

"Honor  to  the  loftiest  poet!  his  shade  returns 
which  had  departed !" 


( 
\ 


DANTE  67, 

When  the  voice  ceased,  I  saw  four  mighty  spirits 
coming  toward  us ;  their  faces  neither  sad  nor  glad. 

VIRGIL 

"Behold  him  who  comes,  sword  in  hand,  before 
the  other  three,  even  as  lord;  he  is  Homer,  the  su- 
preme poet;  the  next  is  Horace;  Ovid  is  the  third, 
and  the  last  is  Lucan.  Because  each  of  them  enjoys, 
as  I  do,  the  name  poet,  which  the  single  voice  pro- 
claimed, they  do  me  honor,  and  in  that  do  well." 

Thus  I  saw  gathered  together  the  beautiful  school 
of  that  consummate  lord  of  song  who  wings  his  flight 
above  the  others  like  an  eagle.  After  some  talk 
among  themselves  they  turned  and  saluted  me;  at 
this  my  master  smiled.  And  much  more  honor  yet 
they  showed  me,  for  they  made  me  one  of  their 
company,  so  that  I  became  the  sixth  amid  so  much 
knowledge.  Thereupon  we  moved  forward,  speak- 
ing of  things  about  which  it  is  here  right  to  keep 
silence,  even  as  there  it  was  proper  to  speak. 

In  company  with  these  five  poets  Dante  sees 
many  spirits: — 

whose  eyes  were  slow,  and  grave,  and  who  were 
of  high  authority  in  appearance;  who  spoke  little 
and  with  low  voices.  We  drew  to  one  side  so  that 
all  could  be  seen.     There  before  me  on  the  green 


68  DANTE 

were  pointed  out  the  great  spirits  to  have  seen 
whom  rejoices  my  soul, 

I  saw  Electra^  with  many  companions,  among 
whom  I  recognized  Hector  and  ^Eneas,  and  Caesar 
in  mail,  with  his  piercing  eyes.  I  saw  Camilla  and 
Penthesilea,  and  on  the  other  side  I  beheld  King 
Latinus  who  was  sitting  with  Lavinia  his  daughter. 
I  saw  that  Brutus  who  drove  out  Tarquin ;  Lucretia, 
Julia,  Marcia  and  Cornelia;  and  Saladin,  apart  and 
alone.  When  I  lifted  my  eyes  a  little  more  I  beheld 
Aristotle,  master  of  the  wise,  seated  amid  the  philo- 
sophic family;  all  eyes  were  on  him;  all  did  him 
reverence.  Here  I  saw  Socrates  and  Plato,  who, 
before  others,  stand  nearest  to  him.  I  can  not  re- 
cord the  entire  list,  because  my  long  theme  so 
presses  that  words  must  often  be  cut  short  while 
there  is  yet  much  to  tell. 

The  works  of  Raphael  in  the  Vatican,  his  School 
of  Athens,  Parnassus  and  Dispute  of  the  Sacra- 
ment, are  the  only  things  in  art,  of  the  same  sort, 

*  Electra,  not  the  Greek  heroine,  but  the  mother  of  Darda- 
nus,  who  was  the  founder  of  Troy.  All  of  the  persons  men- 
tioned before  Saladin  were  in  some  conspicuous  way  con- 
nected with  Troy  and  Rome.  Saladin  is  introduced  as  an 
example  of  noble  character  drawn  from  a  race  wholly  apart 
from  Trojan  or  Latin  origins.  Then  follow  the  learned  in  all 
branches  of  human  knowledge,  led,  of  course,  by  the  philoso- 
phers, first  Aristotle,  and  ending  with  the  name  of  the  famous 
Arabian  Averrhoes,  who  made  "the  great  comment"  on  Aris- 
totle, the  Latin  translation  of  which  (1250)  brought  the  works 
of  the  philosopher  to  the  notice  of  the  Western  world,  i.  e.,  to 
Europe. 


DANTE  69 

and  comparable  to  Dante's  vision  of  the  noblest 
exponents  of  Philosophy  and  Science,  as  set  out 
in  this  fourth  canto  of  Hell.  And  if,  as  it  has 
often  been  argued,  Dante  displayed  the  essence  of 
pride  when  he  described  himself  as  being  made  "the 
sixth  in  so  great  a  company,"  does  not  Raphael  do 
the  same  thing  in  his  pictures,  and  put  himself 
among  such  persons?  And  in  both  instances,  time, 
which  is  the  prover  of  art,  has  set  its  approbation 
upon  these  acts,  and  declared  their  authors,  Dante 
and  Raphael,  to  belong  in  those  annals  of  fame 
where,  in  the  short  life,  they  put  themselves. 
Raphael  groups  Homer  with  others,  but  none  the 
less  sets  him  alone,  just  as  Dante  does.  And  again 
when  Raphael  places  Dante  among  the  divines  of 
the  Disputa  it  is  but  the  adequate  recognition  of 
superlative  greatness,  in  a  manner  that  does  not  fail 
of  being  itself  superlatively  great.  The  only  real 
hall  of  fame  is  such  as  Dante  created,  and  peopled, 
in  his  fourth  canto;  such  as  Raphael  created,  and 
peopled,  in  his  Vatican  pictures. 

CANTO   V 

With  this  canto  the  real,  what  might  almost  be 
called  the  physical,  sufferings  of  Plell  begin.  The 
scene  is  laid  in  the  second  circle,  that  just  below 
I.imbo, 

a  place  where  there  is  no  light,  that  roars  like  the 


70  DANTE 

sea  in  a  gale;  where  the  infernal  hurricane,  which 
never  ceases,  drives  on  the  spirits  with  its  blast 
hither  and  thither,  down  and  up;  where  they  are 
swept  forward  and  no  hope  ever  soothes  them, 
either  of  repose,  or  of  less  suffering. 

At  the  entrance  stands  Minos,  a  horrible  creature 
borrowed  from  classical  mythology,  who  acts  as 
judge  of  the  damned  and  decides  on  the  circle  to 
which  each  is  to  descend. 

In  this  dark  atmosphere  of  everlasting  restless- 
ness, symbolizing  the  tempest  of  carnal  passion, 
souls  suffer  for  the  unchastity  of  their  lives  on 
Earth.  Virgil  points  out  Achilles,  Dido,  Cleopatra, 
and  Semiramis — 

who  by  law  made  lust  legal. 

After  I  had  heard  my  teacher  name  the  lords  and 
ladies  of  old  time,  pity  overwhelmed  me  and  I  was 
well-nigh  bewildered. 

DANTE  ' 

"Poet,  gladly  would  I  talk  with  those  two  who 
are  together,  and  appear  so  light  upon  the  hurri- 
cane." 

VIRGIL 

"Watch  when  they  are  near  and  then,  by  the  love 
which  binds  them,  ask  them  and  they  will  come." 


DANTE  n 

Soon  as  tlie  wind  swept  them  toward  us,  I  cried 
out: 

"O  weary  souls,  come  and  talk  with  us,  if  An- 
other* forbid  it  not." 

ONE  OF  THESE  TWO FRANCESCA 

"O  living  man,  gentle  and  kind,  who  goes 
through  the  darkness  visiting  us  who  stained  the 
world  blood-red,^  if  the  King  of  the  universe  were 
friendly  we  would  pray  Him  to  grant  you  peace, 
because  you  have  pity  on  our  misery.  Of  what  you 
wish  to  hear  and  say  we  will  hear  and  speak  to  you 
while  the  hurricane,  as  at  present,  is  lulled.  The 
city  in  which  I  was  born  is  on  the  sea-shore  where 
the  Po,  with  his  tributaries,  flows  down  to  peace. 
Love  which  quickly  lays  hold  on  gentle  hearts,  laid 
hold  on  this  one  because  of  the  fair  form  that  in 
death  was  taken  from  me,  and  the  way  even  yet 
hurts  me.  Love  which  absolves  no  lover  from  lov- 
ing, moved  me  so  mightily  with  the  wish  to  please 
him  that,  as  you  see,  the  wish  does  even  yet  con- 
tinue. Love  brought  us  to  the  same  death.  Cain' 
awaits  him  who  took  our  life." 

Dante  bows  his  head  in  silence. 


'God. 

*  Meaning  that  adultery  often  leads  to  murder. 
*The  circle  called  Caina,  deep  down  in  Hell,  where  fratri- 
cides are  punished. 


71  DANTE 

VIRGIL 

"What  are  you  thinking  about  ?" 

DANTE 

"Of  how  many  sweet  thoughts,  of  what  great 
rapture,  led  this  pair  to  these  pitiable  straits. 

"Francesca,  your  misery  makes  me  weep.  But 
tell  me,  in  the  season  of  sweet  sighs,  by  what  stages 
and  how,  did  your  love  to  passion  turn  ?'* 

FRANCESCA 

"  *A  sorrow's  crown  of  sorrow  is  remembering 
happier  things,'*  and  this  your  teacher''  knows. 
But  if  you  wish  to  learn  of  the  beginnings  of  our 
passion  I  will  do  like  one  who  weeps  and  tells. 

"One  day  for  pastime  we  were  reading  of  Lance- 
lot, and  how  love  conquered  him.  We  were  alone 
and  unfearful  of  discovery.  Many  times  the  story 
brought  our  eyes  together,  and  paled  our  cheeks,  but 
only  a  single  point  overcame  us  wholly.  When  we 
read  of  the  longed-for  smile  being  kissed  by  such  a 
lover,  this  one,  who  never  more  shall  be  separated 
from  me,  kissed  my  trembling  lips.  Galahaut  was 
the  book.    That  day  we  read  no  more." 

*  Tennyson's  line  in  In  Memoriam  is  a  perfect  translation  ofi 
the  meaning  of  Francesca's  words. 
•VirgiL 


DANTE  73 

In  every  generation,  and  wherever  men  have 
cared  deeply  for  the  "breath  and  finer  spirit  of  all 
knowledge"  cast  into  the  form  of  poetry,  or  for 
intense  and  controlled  reciting,  in  words  of  incan- 
descent meaning,  the  things  of  good  and  evil  that 
befall  our  human  lot,  then  and  there  the  Francesca 
story,  as  told  by  Dante,  has  been  regarded  as  per- 
fect art.  Some  feel  its  indescribable  beauty  as 
Leigh  Hunt,  who  said  that  the  episode  of  Francesca 
is  "like  a  lily  in  the  mouth  of  Tartarus";  others, 
like  Carlyle,  receive  through  it  a  present  and  endur- 
ing counsel  from  the  abyss  of  all  understanding; 
"Infinite  pity  yet  also  infinite  rigor  of  law ;  it  is  so 
Nature  is  made:  it  is  so  Dante  discerned  she  was 
made."  Again,  in  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship,  but 
more  in  the  strain  of  Leigh  Hunt,  Carlyle  calls  the 
Francesca  story  "a  thing  woven  as  out  of  rainbows 
on  a  ground  of  eternal  black." 

CANTO   VI 

In  the  third  circle  those  are  punished  who  in 
life  were  gluttons. 

CANTO   VII 

The  fourth  circle,  where  the  souls  of  misers, 
those  who  hoarded  their  possessions,  and  of  spend- 
thrifts, those  who  squandered  theirs,  are  punished. 


74  DANTE 

CANTO   VIII 

The  Stygian  marsh  where  are  the  souls  of  those 
whom  anger  overcame,  in  the  sense  of  leading  them 
to  acts  of  wrath  and  open  violence.  On  the  far 
side  of  the  marsh  rises  the  encircling  wall  of  Dis, 
the  innermost  dwelling  place  of  Hell  where  the 
worst  sinners  are  gathered.  Dante  and  Virgil  are 
ferried  across  the  marsh  and  at  one  point  a  shade, 
choked  with  mire,  cries  out: 

"Who  are  you  that  come  before  your  time  ?" 

DANTE 

"If  I  come  I  do  not  remain;  but  who  are  you, 
filthy  creature  ?" 

SHADE 

"You  see  that  I  am  one  of  those  who  weep." 

DANTE 

"With  weeping  and  with  grief  continue,  cursed 
spirit,  for  in  spite  of  all  your  filth  I  recognize  you." 

Then  he  reached  out  with  both  hands  toward  our 
boat  whereat  my  cautious  leader  thrust  him  back, 
saying,  "Get  you  gone  along  with  the  other  dogs." 
After  this  Virgil  threw  his  arms  about  my  neck  and 
kissed  me,  and  said :  "Blessed  be  she  that  bore  you ! 
Among  the  living  he  was  an  arrogant  mortal.    No 


DANTE  75 

act  of  kindness  sweetens  his  memory.  That  is  why 
his  spirit  is  here  consumed  with  fury.  How  many, 
this  moment,  up  there  among  the  Hving  are  reputed 
great  rulers  who  are  destined  down  here  to  wallow 
like  swine  in  mire,  leaving  behind  them  memories 
of  fearful  blame." 

DANTE 

"Master,  I  would  gladly  see  him  doused  before  we 
leave  the  marsh." 

VIRGIL 

"Before  we  see  the  other  shore  you  shall  have 
your  wish.  It  is  right  that  you  enjoy  fulfilment  of 
such  desire." 

A  little  later  I  saw  such  rending  of  him  by  the 
muddy  ones  that  I  still  praise  God  for  it,  and  thank 
Him.  All  shrieked,  "At  Filippo  Argenti!"^  and 
the  furious  Florentine  shade,  enraged,  bit  himself 
with  his  own  teeth. 

CANTO  IX 

The  end  of  Canto  VHI,  and  the  greater  part  of 
Canto  IX,  is  taken  up  with  an  account  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  Virgil  and  Dante  encountered  while 

*  He  was  one  of  Dante's  most  bitter  opponents  in  Florence, 
a  man  long  forgotten  save  for  Dante,  who  has  made  his  name 
the  synonym  for  a  hot-tempered,  hard,  rich  man,  which  he 
was  known  for  in  his  own  day. 


76  DANTE 

trying  to  get  entrance  at  the  gate  of  Dis,  the  walls 
of  which  are  guarded  by  Furies.  Finally,  a  mess- 
enger is  sent  from  Heaven  and  the  gate  opened. 
Once  inside,  Dante  looks  around  him  and  discovers 
a  great  plain  full  of  woe  and  cruel  torments. 

As  at  Arles^  where  the  Rhone  spreads  out  its 
mouths,  as  at  Pola,  near  the  Quarnaro''  which  hems 
in  Italy  and  bathes  her  borders,  the  whole  place  is 
uneven  with  tombs,  so  was  it  here,  except  that  the 
manner  was  harsher,  for  flames  were  sprinkled 
among  these  sepulchres  by  which  they  were  so  tre- 
mendously heated  that  no  handicraft  requires  iron 
to  be  hotter.  Every  one  had  its  lid  up,  and  fearful 
wails  were  issuing;  such  wails  as  did  indeed  seem 
the  shrieks  of  great  and  fearful  sufferers. 

DANTE 

"Master,  who  are  they  that  lying  within  these 
coffers  make  themselves  known  by  their  terrible 
cries?" 

VIRGIL 

"Here  are  the  archheretics  with  their  adherents 
of  every  sect,  and  the  tombs  are  much  fuller  than 
you  suspect." 


*Town  near  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone. 
*The  Gulf  of  Quarnaro. 


•  DANTE  71, 

CANTO    X 

Among  the  fiery  tombs,  the  same  as  in  Canto  IX. 
In  this  place  are  punished  those  heretics  who  main- 
tained that  the  soul  dies  with  the  body. 

DANTE 

*'0  Supreme  Virtue  that  leads  me  as  you  will 
through  the  hateful  circles  of  the  damned,  speak  to 
me  and  satisfy  my  longings.  The  people  that  are 
lying  in  these  tombs,  might  I  see  them?  All  the 
lids  are  up  and  no  one  is  on  guard." 

VIRGIL 

**Every  one  of  them  will  be  locked  in  when  they 
shall  come  back  from  Jehoshaphat^  with  the  bodies 
which  they  have  left  on  Earth." 

SHADE,   ADDRESSING   DANTE   FROM   ONE 
OF   THE   TOMBS 

"O  Tuscan,  picking  your  way  through  this  city  of 
fire,  may  it  please  you  to  tarry  for  a  moment.  Your 
manner  of  speaking  makes  it  plain  that  you  are  a 
native  of  that  noble  fatherland  toward  which  I  was 
perhaps  too  vindictive." 

*The  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  was  believed  to  be  tlie  place 
where  the  Last  Judgment  was  to  occur  and  thereiore  the 
place  where  the  dead  would  resume  their  physical  bodies. 


78  DANTE 

Fearful,  Dante  draws  close  up  to  Virgil. 

VIRGIL 

"What  are  you  doing?  Turn!  Look  there,  be- 
hold Farinata*  who  has  risen  erect.  From  the  waist 
up  you  will  see  him."  j 

I  had  already  fixed  my  gaze  square  on  his  face, 
and  he  was  straightening  himself  up,  chest  and 
front,  as  if  he  held  Hell  in  scorn.  My  leader,  with 
sure  and  daring  hands,  pushed  me  among  the  tombs 
saying : 

"Make  your  words  plain." 

When  I  reached  the  foot  of  his  sepulchre  he 
looked  at  me  a  moment,  and  then,  contemptuously : 

"Who  were  your  ancestors  ?"  j 

I,  who  was  anxious  to  obey,  concealed  nothing, 
but  told  him  all ;  at  this  he  raised  his  brows  a  trifle ; 
then  said : 

"They  were  fiercely  hostile  to  me  and  to  my  for- 
bears, and  to  my  party,  so  that  twice  I  dispersed 
them." 

"If  they  were  scattered  they  gathered  again  from 
every  side  on  both  occasions,  the  art  of  doing  which 
yours  have  not  mastered,"  I  replied  to  him. 

At  this  moment  there  rose  alongside  Farinata  a 
shade,  visible  from  his  chin  up.    I  think  it  had  risen 


'Farinata  was  banished  from  Florence,  and  later  he  was 
largely  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  defeat  of  the  Flor- 
entines at  the  battle  of  Montaperti,  September,  A.  D.  1260. 


DANTE  75|" 

on  its  knees.  It  looked  around  as  if  wishing  to 
learn  whether  there  were  some  one  with  me.  But 
when  it  saw  that  I  was  alone,  weeping  it  said : 

"If  on  account  of  your  lofty  genius  you  are  per- 
mitted to  go  through  this  dark  prison,  where  is  my 
son,'  and  why  is  he  not  with  you?" 

DANTE 

"I  come  not  of  myself.  He  who  waits  yonder  is 
leading  me.  Mayhap  your  Guido  held  him  in  dis- 
dain."* 

Suddenly,  straightening  up,  the  shade  exclaims : 

"Did  you  say :  *He  held?*  Is  he  then  no  longer 
among  the  living?" 

Perceiving  on  my  part  some  delay  in  answering, 
he  swooned  and  was  no  longer  visible. 

But  that  haughty  soul  at  whose  request  I  had 
tarried,  did  not  change  a  feature,  or  turn  his  neck, 
or  move  his  body. 

FARINATA 

"And  if  (going  on  from  where  he  had  been  in- 
ternipted)  they  have  not  mastered  the  art  of  re- 
turning that  gives  me  greater  anguish  than  this  bed." 

•  The  shade  here  speaking  to  Dante  was  that  of  one  Caval- 
eanti,  father  of  the  dearest  friend  of  Dante's  youth,  a  poet 
like  himself. 

*  Guido  Cavalcanti  urged  Dante  to  write  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  i.  e.,  in  Italian  rather  than  Latin.  This  might  be 
interpreted  as  an  act  of  disrespect  to  Virgil,  who  wrote  in 
Latin. 


80  DANTE 

After  more  conversation  in  which  Dante  learns 
that  he  has  misunderstood  the  shade's  question  about 
his  son,  he  tries  to  make  amends  for  not  having  re- 
phed  at  once  that  he  was  ahve. 

**Tell  him,"  I  said,  "that  I  did  not  answer  because 
I  did  not  understand.  Tell  him  that  his  son  is  still 
among  the  living." 

No  canto  in  the  trilogy  is  finer  in  respect  to 
character  drawing.  Few  and  disdainful  as  are  the 
words  of  the  superb  Farinata,  impatient  of  Caval- 
canti's  interruption  as  one  might  be  of  a  child's, 
they  give  a  perfect  idea  of  the  man  himself.  Few 
and  pathetic  as  are  the  words  in  which  Caval- 
canti  displays  fatherly  pride  in  his  son,  and  fatherly 
grief,  they  compel  the  reader  to  know  what  sort 
of  man  he  was.  Few  as  are  Dante's  words,  and 
full  of  thoughtful  sympathy  for  the  pain  he  has 
unwittingly  given  Cavalcanti,  or  terse  and  proud 
as  are  his  answers  to  Farinata's  haughty  remarks, 
Dante  depicts  himself  beyond  chance  of  misunder- 
standing, as  the  high-spirited,  sometimes  stiff- 
necked,  but  kindest-hearted  of  gentlemen.  Pride 
of  family,  contempt  of  surroundings,  the  flash  of 
regret,  and  parental  tenderness  are  made  to  live 
in  their  very  essence,  in  the  characters  of  these 
two  shades — Farinata  and  Cavalcanti — to  whom 
Dante,  as  to  many  of  the  souls  of  the  dead,  has  given 


DANTE  81 

immortality,  not  to  mention  the  immortality  which, 
through  bestowing  so  freely  upon  others,  he  be- 
stowed so  indubitably  upon  himself. 

CANTO   XI 

Walking  among  the  red-hot  tombs  Dante  and  Vir- 
gil at  last  reach  the  inner  edge  of  the  circle  and  find 
themselves  close  to  the  wall  where  it  falls  away  to 
the  pit  below. 

Here,  because  of  the  horrible  stench  which  the 
abyss  threw  out,  we  drew  to  one  side  behind  the  lid 
of  a  great  tomb. 

While  waiting  to  become  accustomed  to  the 
stench,  Virgil  discourses  to  Dante  about  the  divisions 
of  Hell  lower  down,  and  about  the  sins  punished  in 
each. 

virgil; 

"Injury  is  the  intended  end  of  every  sin  which 
is  hated  in  Heaven,  and  every  such  intention  brings 
trouble  to  others,  either  through  violence,  or  through 
fraud.  But  since  fraud  is  peculiar  to  man  alone, 
it  all  the  more  angers  God,  and  for  this  reason  the 
fraudulent  are  lower  down,  and  their  lot  is  worse." 

In  the  iparts  of  Hell  which  are  above  Dis,  only 


82  DANTE 

sins  of  incontinence  are  punished,  such  as  lust  and 
greed.  Thus  the  three  great  divisions  of  Hell  are 
apportioned  in  descending  order,  to  those  who  have 
sinned  through  incontinence,  through  violence, 
through  fraud.  We  have  now  come  to  the  violent, 
and  Virgil  explains  how  violence  may  be  done  to 
three  persons,  and  hence  is  of  three  sorts,  and  how 
to  each  of  these,  a  subdivision  or  round  of  the  sev- 
enth circle  of  Hell  is  devoted. 

VIRGIL 

"To  God,  to  one's  self,  to  one's  neighbor,  may 
violence  be  done." 

He  then  goes  on  to  show  the  twofold  form  which 
violence  may  assume  in  each  of  these  cases.  To- 
ward God  by  blasphemy,  or  by  violating  the  laws 
of  nature;  toward  one's  self  by  suicide,  or  by  wast- 
ing one's  own  possessions;  toward  one's  neighbor, 
by  murder,  or  stealing  his  goods.  Of  fraud  he  dis- 
tinguishes two  kinds:  that  which  may  be  practised 
on  a  friend,  one  who  has  faith  in  you,  and  that 
which  may  be  practised  on  those  who  have  no  reason 
to  place  confidence  in  you.  In  the  latter  case  the 
common  bond  of  love  which  binds,  or  should  bind, 
all  men,  is  broken.  In  the  former,  that  bond  which 
binds  friends,  or  makes  for  love  of  native  land,  is 
broken. 


DANTE  83 

CANTO    XII 

Seventh  circle  divided  into  three  concentric  rings. 

Virgil  and  Dante  have  descended  from  the  edge 
of  Upper  Hell  into  the  first  circle  of  Lower  Hell, 
the  seventh,  in  order,  from  the  top  down ;  from  the 
places  of  Incontinence,  to  the  places  of  Violence 
and  Malice.    This  descent  was — 

alpine,  and  because  of  the  creature  that  was  lying 
there  such  as  every  eye  would  shun.  As  is  the  land- 
slide which  on  this  side  of  Trent,  struck  the  Adige 
on  its  flank,  either  as  the  result  of  earthquake,  or 
because  the  rocks  gave  way,  for  from  the  mountain's 
summit  where  it  started,  to  the  plain,  the  cliffs  have 
been  so  broken  in  their  fall  that  it  is  barely  possible 
to  clamber  down,  such  was  the  descent  into  this  pit. 
On  the  rim  of  the  chasm,  stretched  out,  lay  the  in- 
famy of  Crete*  that  was  conceived  in  the  false  cow. 
And  when  he  saw  us  he  began  to  bite  himself  as  if 
consumed  by  inward  anger. 

VIRGIL 

"Perhaps  you  take  this  one  with  me  to  be  the 
Duke  of  Athens;*  he  who  in  the  world  killed  you? 

*The  Minotaur,  symbol  of  violence  and  fury,  half  bull,  half 
man,  "The  infamy  of  Crete"  because  of  his  infamous  origin. 
VI.  AIneid. 

'Theseus,  called  Duke  of  Athens,  who,  with  the  help  of 
Ariadne's  thread,  found  his  way  out  of  the  Cretan  labyrinth 
after  he  had  slain  the  Minotaur. 


84  DANTE 

Be  gone,  beast!  He  does  not  come  instructed  by 
your  sister,  but  he  goes  to  behold  your  punishments." 
Like  the  bull  which  breaks  his  halter  at  the  instant 
he  receives  his  death  blow  and,  unable  to  advance, 
plunges  right  and  left,  such  I  beheld  the  Minotaur. 

VIRGIL 

"Run!  while  he  rages  we  must  make  the  most  of 
our  chance." 

So  we  picked  our  way  down  over  the  fallen  stones 
that  often  moved  beneath  my  feet  which,  in  that 
place,  were  an  unusual  burden.  Deep  in  thought,  I 
made  the  descent. 

VIRGIL 

"You  are  perhaps  thinking  about  this  ruinous 
landslide  which  is  guarded  by  the  angry  beast  that 
I  just  now  silenced.  Know  then,  that  on  the  other 
occasion  when  I  descended  into  this  Lower  Hell  the 
cliff  had  not  yet  fallen.  But  indeed,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  a  little  before  He  came  who  levied  the 
great  toll  on  HelP  the  deep  and  filthy  vale  shook* 
in  all  directions  so  that  I  thought  the  universe  was 
moved  by  love ;  and  at  that  moment,  this  old  preci- 
pice here,  and    elsewhere,    fell    down.     But  look 


•The  souls  of  upright  heathen,  and  the  great  of  the  Old 
Testament,  whom  Christ  took  out  of  Hell. 

*  The  earthquake  described  by  St.  Matthew,  xxvii,  51,  as 
having  taken  place  at  the  time  of  the  Crucifixion. 

This  story,  in  all  its  circumstantial  details,  as  related  by 


DANTE  85 

steadfastly  below.  The  river  of  blood  is  near.  In 
it  boils  every  one  who  by  violence  injures  others." 
Oh!  blind  greed,  both  criminal  and  crazy,  which 
goads  us  so  viciously  in  the  short  life,  and  then 
in  the  eternal  overwhelms  us  so  terribly ! 

Dante  now  sees  the  river  of  boiling  blood,  and 
Centaurs,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  coursing 
along  its  banks. 

Round  and  round  the  river's  margin  they  go 
shooting  any  soul  that  lifts  itself  out  of  the  blood 
more  than  for  its  crime  is  permitted. 

They  come,  finally,  close  up  to  the  Centaurs.    The 


Virgil,  IS  one  of  the  characteristic  ways  by  which  Dante  again 
and  again  gives  a  sense  of  overwhelming  reality  to  his  writ- 
ing. It  is  the  sort  of  touch  which  convinces  the  reader  by 
m^ing  him,  as  it  were,  feel  perfectly  at  home.  It  is  the  most 
natural  and  common  thing  in  the  world  for  one  who  is  act- 
ing as  guide  in  a  place  long  familiar  to  himself,  but  new  to 
another,  to  say,  "It  was  thus  and  so  when  I  first  came  here." 
And  this  is  precisely  what  Virgil  does.  These  lines,  like  so 
many  in  The  Comedy,  are  glorious  illustrations  of  what  George 
Meredith  says  about  the  art  of  writing;  words  which  he 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  Diana  of  the  Crossways.  "The  art  of 
the  pen  (we  write  on  darkness)  is  to  rouse  the  inward  vision, 
instead  of  laboring  with  a  drop-scene  brush,  as  if  it  were  to 
the  eye;  because  our  flying  minds  can  not  contain  a  protracted 
description.  That  is  why  the  poets  who  spring  imagination 
with  a  word  or  a  plirase  paint  lasting  pictures.  The  Shake- 
sperian,  the  Dantesque,  are  in  a  line,  two  at  most."  This  is 
true  over  and  over,  twice  in  this  very  canto,  of  the  way  in 
which  Dante  never  lets  the  reader — the  reader  is  both  listener 
and  onlooker,  as  at  a  play — forget  that  he,  Dante,  is  flesh  and 
blood,  and  the  others,  shades.  "He  moves  what  he  touches," 
cries  Chiron.  "The  stones  often  moved  under  my  feet,"  says 
Dante. 


86  DANTE 

great  Chiron,  who  raised  Achilles,  takes  an  arrow, 
and  with  the  notched  end  pushes  aside  his  beard.' 
His  mouth  uncovered,  he  says  to  his  companions: 

"Do  you  see  how  the  one  behind  moves  what  he 
touches?  That  is  not  the  way  with  the  feet  of  the 
dead." 

VIRGIL 

"He  is  indeed  alive,  and  thus,  all  solitary,  it  is 
my  duty  to  guide  him  through  the  dark  abyss.  Ne- 
cessity takes  him;  not  pleasure.  He  is  no  thief,  nor 
am  I  a  fraudulent  soul.  By  that  divine  Power  which 
directs  my  steps  along  so  wild  a  road,  I  pray  you 
assign  us  one  of  your  companions,  to  whom  we  may 
keep  close;  one  who  will  show  us  the  ford,  and 
will  carry  this  one  over  on  his  back.  He  is  no 
shade  that  can  go  through  the  air." 

•In  a  remarkable  passage  on  realism  in  art,  Ruskin  makes 
wonderful  use  of  Chiron  from  this  scene.  He  is  arguing  for 
the  doctrine  that  all  great  art  represents  something  that  it 
sees  or  believes  in:  nothing  unseen  or  uncredited.  Modem 
Painters,  III. 

"And  just  because  it  is  always  something  that  it  sees  or 
believes  there  is  the  peculiar  character  above  noted,  almost 
unmistakable,  in  all  high  and  true  ideals  of  having  been  as  it 
were  studied  from  life,  and  involving  pieces  of  sudden  famil- 
iarity, and  close  specific  painting  which  never  would  have 
been  admitted  or  even  thought  of,  had  not  the  painter  drawn 
either  from  the  bodily  life  or  from  the  life  of  faith.  For 
instance,  Dante's  Centaur,  Chiron,  dividing  his  beard  with 
his  arrow  before  he  can  speak,  is  a  thing  that  no  mortal  would 
ever  have  thought  of,  if  he  had  not  actually  seen  the  Centaur 
do  it.  They  might  have  composed  handsome  bodies  of  men  and 
horses  in  all  possible  ways  through  a  whole  life  of  pseudo- 


DANTE  87. 

Chiron  immediately  appoints  one  of  his  compan- 
ion Centaurs  to  be  their  guide  and  they  start  out 
along  the  edge  of  the  blood-red  boiling,  in  which 
the  scalded  were  shrieking. 

I  saw  some  who  were  in  up  to  their  brows. 

THE  CENTAUR 

"These  were  tyrants  who  verily  dealt  in  blood  and 
plunder." 

As  they  proceed  the  depth  of  the  boiling  blood  les- 
sens: 

until  it  cooked  only  the  feet,  and  here  was  the  ford. 

CANTO    XIII 

The  seventh  circle,  second  ring.  The  place  in 
which  all  those  who  have  done  violence  to  them- 
selves are  punished. 

CANTOS   XIV,    XV,    XVI,    XVII 

The  scene  in  these  four  cantos  is  laid  in  the 
seventh  circle.  The  sin  punished  throughout  this 
circle  is  that  of  doing  or  showing  violence  against 

idealism,  and  yet  never  dreamed  of  any  such  thing.  But  the 
real  living  Centaur  actually  trotted  across  Dante's  brain,  and 
he  saw  him  do  it" 

/ 


88  DANTE 

God.  It  is  of  three  kinds;  violence  to  God,  blas- 
phemy; violence  to  nature,  sodomy;  violence  to 
possessions,  usury. 

CANTO  xiy 

Xo  make  the  new  conditions  perfectly  under- 
standable I  say  that  we  had  now  come  to  a  desert 
v^here  no  plant  could  grow.  The  gloomy  wood 
encircles  it,  and  it  in  turn  is  circled  by  the  river  of 
blood.  At  the  very  edge  we  stopped.  How  greatly 
must  the  wrath  of  God  be  feared  by  all  who  read 
of  what  was  here  made  manifest  to  my  eyes. 

I  saw  many  a  company  of  naked  shades,  every  one 
weeping  pitifully.  Different  chastisements  appeared 
to  be  laid  on  them.  Some  were  flat  upon  the  sand ; 
some  sat  all  hunched  over;  others  hurried  to  and 
fro  without  pause.  The  greater  number  were  the 
restless  ones ;  the  lesser,  those  who  were  lying  down 
under  their  punishment,  but  the  shrieks  of  the  latter 
were  sharper. 

Over  all  the  sand,  falling  quietly,  there  rained 
down  great  flakes  of  fire  like  snow  on  mountains 
when  there  is  no  wind.  The  dance  of  the  wretched 
hands  never  stopped,  now  from  one  spot  now  from 
another,  flicking  off  new  fallen  flames. 

•     Dante  notices  a  shade^  that  does  not  seem  to  heed 


DANTE  89 

the  fiery  rain,  and  he  inquires  about  him  of  Virgil. 
The  shade  answers  for  himself. 

"What  P  was  alive  that  am  I  dead.  Though 
Jove  wear  out  the  smith  from  whom  in  mighty  an- 
ger he  took  the  heavy  thunderbolt  with  which  he 
dealt  me  the  final  blow;  though  he  wear  out  the 
others,  one  by  one,  at  the  black  forge  in  Mongibello* 
crying  'help,  Vulcan,  help !'  as  he  did  in  the  Phlegra 
fight,  and  hurl  down  upon  me  with  all  his  strength, 
he  shall  not  humble  me." 

VIRGIL 

**0  Capaneus,  because  your  proud  spirit  is  not 
subdued  your  punishments  are  the  heavier.  No  tor- 
ment save  your  own  rage  can  furnish  pain  meet  for 
such  savage  anger." 

Then  with  gentler  look  turning  to  me,  he  said : 

"He  was  one  of  the  seven  Kings  who  laid  seige 
to  Thebes.  He  held  God  in  disdain,  and  seems  to, 
still.  But  as  I  said  to  him  just  now  his  own  pride 
is  a  very  proper  decoration  for  his  proud  breast. 
Now  follow  me  and  take  care  not  to  set  foot  on  the 
parched  sand." 

Without  more  words  we  came  to  the  place  where 

*This  is  Capaneus,  who  defied  Jove,  and  for  doing  so  was 
slain  with  a  thunderbolt. 
'The  medieval  and  modern  name  of  Mt.  Etna. 


90  DANTE 

a  little  brook  gushes  out   from  the  wood.     The 
thought  of  its  red  color'  even  yet  makes  me  shudder. 

CANTO   XV 

Third  ring  of  the  seventh  circle.  Sodomites  on 
whom,  as  of  old,  "The  Lord  rained  brimstone  and 
fire." 

We  were  by  this  time  so  far  from  the  wood  that 
it  was  lost  to  sight.  We  were  met  by  a  company 
of  shades  moving  close  to  the  bank. 

Dante  and  Virgil  are  walking  on  the  edge  of  a 
terrace  as  it  were,  and  the  shades  just  below  them 
on  the  next  step. 

Each  was  peering  at  us  as  men  do  at  one  another 
in  the  faint  light  of  a  young  moon.     They  con- 


•  A  characteristic  touch  of  Dante's  power  of  vivid  realism  is 
displayed  in  his  reference  to  the  bloody  redness  of  the  brook, 
memory  of  which  "even  yet  makes  me  shudder."  It  is  a 
method  that  works,  as  employed  by  Dante,  with  unfailing? 
success.  See  Inferno,  Canto  XXXII,  where  in  the  frozen 
regions  he  saw  "a  thousand  faces  made  brutish  by  the  cold," 
and  says,  "for  this  reason  I  shudder,  and  shall  always,  at  the 
sight  of  frozen  pools."  It  is  realism  even  greater  than  that 
of  the  passage  in  Canto  XII,  describing  Chiron  parting  his 
beard;  the  supreme  sort  of  realism  to  which  transcendent  art 
alone  attains ;  the  sort  that  for  the  time  being  recreates  the 
reader,  and  makes  him  absolutely  of  one  mind  and  heart  with 
the  writer;  in  other  words,  of  understanding  and  emotion 
identical  with  that  of  the  author. 


DANTE  91 

tracted  their  brows  toward  us  as  an  old  tailor  his 
upon  the  needle's  eye. 

Thus  scanned  I  was  recognized  by  one  who  seized 
hold  of  the  hem  of  my  garment,  exclaiming: 

SHADE 

"What  a  miracle !" 

When  he  stretched  out  his  arm  to  me,  I  fixed  my 
eyes  on  his  burnt  visage  so  that  even  his  scorched 
features  did  not  prevent  recognition.  Bending  my 
own  face  down  to  the  level  of  his,  I  said : 

"Are  you  here,  Ser  Brunetto  ?" 

BRUNETTO  LATINI* 

"O  my  son,  let  it  not  annoy  you  if  Brunetto  Latini 
turns  back  a  little  with  you,  while  the  troop  goes 
on. 


*  This  is  Brunetto  Latini.  He  was  one  of  the  most  learned 
and  able  Florentines  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  a  man  for 
whom  Dante  had  profound  admiration ;  admiration  which 
amounted  to  true  and  lasting  affection.  While  Dante  laments 
the  fact  that  Brunetto  is  no  longer  among  the  living,  and 
openly  declares  that  no  small  part  of  his  own  fame,  as  a  poet, 
is  due  to  Brunetto's  teaching  and  example,  and  that  Brunetto's 
image  is  fixed  in  his  mind  and  heart,  he  none  the  less  places 
him  in  Hell.  It  is  a  notable  instance  of  Dante's  sense  of  jus- 
tice, and  regard  for  what  he  believed  to  be  right.  No  matter 
how  dear  personally,  or  how  great  intellectually,  Brunetto 
Latini  was,  or  appeared  to  be  to  Dante,  the  poet  does  not  hesi- 
tate when  it  comes  to  assigning  him  his  due  place  in  the  moral 
scheme  of  the  universe,  for  in  doing  so  Dante  feels  himself  to 
be  representing  the  justice  of  Almighty  God  which  must 
punish  vice  though  it  were  the  act  of  a  man  of  the  most  com- 


92  DANTE 

DANTE 

"With  all  my  soul  I  beseech  you  do  so,  or  if  you 
wish  me  to  sit  down  with  you  I  will  do  that,  pro- 
vided it  pleases  him  with  whom  I  am  going.'* 

BRUNETTO  LATINI 

"Ah !  my  son,  whoever  of  this  troop  halts  for  a 
moment  must  thereafter  lie  a  hundred  years  with- 
out moving  his  hands  to  brush  away  the  falling 
flames  when  they  strike  him;  therefore  continue  to 
go  forward.  I  will  follow  at  your  skirts,  and  later 
I  will  rejoin  my  companions  who  go  wailing  their 
everlasting  punishment." 

I  dared  not  go  down  to  his  level  but  I  kept  my 
head  bowed  like  one  who  is  reverent. 


manding  intellect,  and  lofty  powers,  not  to  mention  the  fact 
of  his  being  the  friend  of  any  particular  person.  Greater 
fairness,  and  more  profound  respect  for  natural  law  is  not 
set  forth  in  any  of  the  stories  of  men,  than  in  this  pathetic 
account  of  the  meeting  of  Brunetto  and  Dante.  It  is  tlie 
compound  oi  a  seven-times  refined  mortal  friendship  with 
respect  for  divine  justice.  It  ennobles  mankind,  and  glorifies 
God,  and  proves  that  the  former,  at  its  best,  is  one  with  the 
latter.  In  the  truest  sense  does  this  fifteenth  canto  of  Hell 
give  us  the  portrait  of  Dante,  a  portrait  in  the  sense  meant  by 
Samuel  Butler  when  he  says:  "A  great  portrait  is  always 
more  a  portrait  of  the  painter  than  the  painted.  When  we 
look  at  a  portrait  of  Holbein  or  Rembrandt  it  is  of  Holbein 
or  Rembrandt  that  we  think  more  than  of  the  subject  of  their 
picture.  Even  a  portrait  of  Shakespeare  by  Holbein  or  Rem- 
brandt could  tell  us  very  little  about  Shakespeare.  It  would, 
however,  tell  us  a  great  deal  about  Holbein  or  Rembrandt."^ 

In  precisely  this  way  does  Dante  give  us  his  own  portrait, 
tell  us  a  great  deal  about  Dante,  when  he  is  doing  his  best, 
and  a  wonderful  best  it  is,  to  tell  us  about  Brunetto  LatinL 


DANTE  93 

BRUNETTO  LATINI 

"What  destiny  brings  you  here  before  your  end? 
And  who  is  he  that  shows  you  the  way  ?" 

DANTE 

"Above,  in  that  life  on  which  the  sun  shines,  be- 
fore my  days  had  all  been  told,  I  lost  my  way  in  a 
dark  wood.  Only  yesterday  morning  did  I  turn 
my  back  upon  it.  This  one  of  whom  you  ask  came 
to  me  at  the  moment  when  I  was  returning  to  that 
wood,  and  he  is  now  leading  me  homeward  along 
this  path." 

BRUNETTO  LATINI 

"And  you  fulfil  the  promise  of  your  birth  you 
can  not  fail  to  make  the  glorious  port,  at  least  if  I 
discerned  rightly  while  I  was  among  the  living. 
Had  my  death  not  been  so  untimely,  seeing  Heaven 
so  well  disposed  toward  you,  I  would  have  given  you 
encouragement  in  your  work." 

DANTE 

"Had  I  my  wish,  you  would  not  yet  be  banished 
from  human  nature;  for  in  my  mind  is  fixed,  and 
this  moment  fills  my  heart,  the  dear,  good,  fatherly 
image  of  you,  as  when  in  the  world  you  taught  me 
hour  by  hour  how  man  wins  immortality.     It  be- 


94  DANTE 

hooves  that  while  I  live  my  tongue  shall  declare  the 
depth  of  my  gratitude  to  you." 

CANTO    XVI 

In  this  canto  the  story  of  those  who  have  done 
violence  to  nature  is  continued. 

CANTO   XVII 

Still  the  third  ring  of  the  seventh  circle.  Those 
are  here  who  have  done  violence  to  Art  in  the 
sense  of  causing  money  to  beget  money;  abuse  of 
possessions  in  the  sense  of  usury.  While  Virgil 
makes  arrangements  for  the  descent  into  the  eighth 
circle,  Dante  visits  the  shades  of  the  usurers  who 
are,  like  the  other  shades  of  the  seventh  circle,  suf- 
fering under  the  fiery  rain.  The  burning  sand  ends 
with  this  ring,  the  edge  of  which  is  walled  with 
stone.  This  wall  drops  sheer,  and  very  deep,  to  the 
eighth  circle,  the  first  of  the  two  last,  or  bottom- 
most circles  of  Hell,  where  the  various  sins  result- 
ing from  fraud  are  punished.  The  canto  opens 
with  an  account  of  the  beast  Geryon,  Dante's  sym- 
bol of  fraud,  and  closes  with  a  description  of 
the  descent  to  the  eighth  circle  on  Geryon's 
shoulders.  Nowhere  does  Dante  so  absolutely  join 
the  real  and  the  impossible,  the  strange  and  the 
usual,  what  never  was  and  what  is  of  every  day,  as  in 
this  canto.     Furthermore,  the  long  annals  of  art 


DANTE  95 

offer  few  passages  equal,  and  none  superior,  in  re- 
spect to  a  poet's  necessarily  twofold  power  of  rea- 
son and  imagination.  If  Dante  himself  did  not  tell 
us  at  the  beginning  of  Paradise  that  both  peaks  of 
Parnassus  must  yield  him  inspiration  for  accom- 
plishing his  last  labor,  it  would  be  hard  to  believe 
he  had  not  had  recourse  to  both  peaks  when  he 
wrote  the  seventeenth  canto  of  his  Hell.  But  he 
says  that  for  all  parts,  short  of  the  Paradise,  the 
aid  of  one  peak  of  the  Muses*  mountain  was 
enough.  The  ineffable  gentleness  and  sweetness 
essential  to  the  Paradise  have  of  course  no  place  in 
Hell,  but  all  qualities  of  reason  and  imagination, 
other  than  these,  are  requisite  to  describing  Hell, 
and  nowhere  are  they  altogether,  or  more  powerfully 
represented,  than  in  the  story  of  the  descent  to  the 
regions  of  fraud. 

The  preceding  canto  closes  as  follows,  with  an 
account  of  Virgil's  asking  Dante  for  the  cord  which 
he  wore  bound  around  his  waist. 

I  handed  it  to  him  gathered  up  and  coiled.  Taking 
it  he  turned  to  the  right  and  threw  it  far  out  from 
the  edge,  down  into  the  deep  gulf. 

VIRGIL 

"What  I  wait  for  will  soon  come  up." 
A  man  should  always,  so  far  as  possible,  avoid 
telling  what  will  sound  false,  because,  though  not 


96  DANTE 

untruthful,  he  may  have  the  appearance  of  lying. 
But  in  the  present  case  I  can  not  keep  silence. 

By  the  words  of  this  Comedy  I  swear  to  you, 
Reader — may  they  not  be  doomed  to  brief  pop- 
ularity— that  I  saw  swim  up  through  the  dense, 
dark  air,  a  creature  that  would  shake  every  stead- 
fast heart.  It  rose  as  a  man  who  has  gone  down 
to  loosen  an  anchor  caught  on  a  rock,  or  other  hid- 
den thing  in  the  sea,  lifting  itself  by  bounding,  up- 
ward motions,  and  drawing  its  feet  after. 

The  seventeenth  canto  now  opens  In  continua- 
tion of  the  description  of  this  creature, 

VIRGIL 

"Behold  the  savage  beast  with  the  pointed  tail 
that  can  remove  mountains,  and  break  walls  and 
weapons ;  behold  him  that  cankers  the  whole  world." 

Thereupon  Virgil  signaled  to  him  to  come  to  the 
margin,  whereat  the  loathsome  image  of  fraud  drew 
nearer  and  rested  his  head  and  body,  but  did  not 
draw  up  his  tail.  His  face  was  the  face  of  a  just 
man,  so  benevolent  was  its  aspect.  The  rest  of  him 
was  serpent.  He  had  hairy  arms,  and  talons  in 
place  of  hands.  His  back,  and  his  chest,  and  both 
his  sides  were  patterned  over  with  knots  and  rings. 
Tartars  or  Turks  never  wove  fabrics  with  more 
colors  of  ground-work  and  pattern,  nor  did  Arachne 
^y  such  webs  upon  the  loom.    In  such  wise  rested 


DANTE  97 

that  evilest  of  beasts  on  the  edge  of  tlie  retaining 
wall.  His  whole  tail  quivered  in  the  void,  twisting 
upward  its  venomous  fork,  which,  like  a  scorpion's, 
armed  the  tip. 

VIRGIL 

"Our  course  must  now  lie  toward  the  place  where 
that  vicious  beast  is  couching." 

Therefore  we  turned  down  to  the  right,  and  took 
ten  steps  along  the  margin,  in  order  to  escape  the 
hot  sand  and  falling  fire.  And  when  we  had  come 
to  him,  I  saw,  a  short  way  beyond,  people  seated  on 
the  sand  close  to  the  void. 

VIRGIL 

"In  order  that  you  may  carry  away  complete  ex- 
perience of  this  ring,  go  now  and  examine  their  con- 
dition. Let  your  words  be  brief.  While  you  are 
gone  I  will  speak  with  the  beast  and  induce  it  to 
lend  us  its  strong  shoulders." 

Alone,  I  went  to  the  place  where  the  unhappy  ones 
were  sitting.  Their  misery  was  bursting  out  at 
their  eyes.  Now  to  one  place,  now  to  another, 
they  moved  their  hands  for  relief,  sometimes  from 
the  flames,  sometimes  from  the  hot  sand.  They 
acted  like  dogs  in  summer,  now  with  muzzle,  now 
with  paws,  when  they  are  bitten  by  fleas,  or  flies,  or 
gad-flies.  I  fixed  my  eyes  on  some  in  particular  on 
whom  the  grievous  fire  was  falling,  but  I  could  rec- 


98  DANTE 

ognize  none.*  I  saw  that  a  money-bag  hung  about 
the  neck  of  each.  The  bags  were  of  certain  colors 
and  bore  certain  devices,  and  on  these  their  eyes  fed. 

After  Dante  has  made  out  who  some  of  the 
shades  were,  by  the  coats  of  arms  blazoned  on 
their  money-bags,  and  has  had  brief  conversation 
with  them,  he  returns  to  Virgil,  whom  he  finds  al- 
ready mounted  on  Geryon's  back. 

VIRGIL 

"Be  strong,  and  of  good  courage.  From  now  on 
the  going  down  is  by  such  stairs.''  Get  up  in  front, 
for  I  wish  to  be  between,  so  that  the  tail  can  not 
sting  you." 

I  seated  myself  on  the  huge  shoulders.  I  tried  to 
say  "hold  me  tight,"  but  my  voice  would  not  come 
as  I  expected.  He  who  at  other  times,  and  in  other 
dangers,  had  helped  me,  so  soon  as  I  was  mounted, 
embraced  and  supported  me  with  his  arms. 

VIRGIL 

"On,  Geryon!  Let  your  circlings  be  wide  and 
your  descending  slow.  Remember  your  unusual 
burden." 

*  It  is  here  with  the  usurers,  as  it  was  with  the  avaricious, 
Hell  VII,  moral  blindness  to  the  right  use  of  wealth  has  de- 
stroyed their  personality  and  made  them  all  alike  by  taking 
away  every  vestige  of  individuality. 

*No  longer  on  foot,  or  by  boat,  but  on  the  backs  of  the 
creatures  of  Hell. 


DANTE  99 

As  a  little  vessel  slips  from  the  beach,  backward, 
backward,  so  he  drew  off.  When  he  felt  himself  to 
be  entirely  free,  he  swung  his  tail  round  to  the  place 
where  his  chest  had  been,  stretching  it  out  like  an 
eel,  and  paddled  in  mid-air  with  his  claws.  Greater 
fear  I  do  not  believe  there  was  when  Phaeton  for- 
sook the  reins,  than  mine  when  I  saw  that  I  was  in 
mid-air,  and  that  everything  was  lost  to  sight  save 
the  beast.  He  swam  onward,  slowly,  slowly,  circling 
and  descending,  but  I  was  unconscious  of  the  motion 
except  as  I  felt  the  wind  on  my  face  and  from  below. 

The  sound  of  falling  water  and  of  fearful  wail- 
ing, together  with  the  sight  of  fires,  fills  Dante  with 
terror.    At  last : 

Greryon  set  us  at  the  bottom;  close  to  the  very 
foot  of  the  precipice,  and,  rid  of  us,  vanished  as 
arrow  from  bow-string. 

CANTOS   XVIII   TO   XXX   INCLUSIVE 

The  thirteen  succeeding  cantos,  beginning  with 
the  eighteenth,  together  make  up  the  eighth  circle 
of  Hell.  This  entire  circle  is  given  over  to  the 
punishment  of  the  souls  of  men  who  practised  fraud. 
But  fraud  Dante  thought  of  as  divided  into  two 
distinct  varieties.  He  says  in  Hell,  Canto  XI, 
"fraud,  man  may  practise  on  one  who  puts  trust  in 


100  DANTE 

him,  or  on  one  that  has  no  reason  to  put  confidence 
in  him."  He  goes  on  to  say  that  the  latter  sort  of 
fraud  violates  only  the  common  bond  of  natural 
kindliness  among  men,  but  that  the  former  violates 
the  confidence  which  has  been  bred  of  intimate  re- 
lations between  man  and  man.  The  difference 
turns  .upon  the  distinction  which  all  men  feel  be- 
tween the  man  who  succeeds  in  cheating  a  casual 
business  acquaintance,  and  the  man  who  cheats  his 
friend  because  his  friend  believes  in  him  so  en- 
tirely that  he  does  not  feel  any  need  to  take  precau- 
tions. The  former  variety  of  fraud  is  punished  in 
the  eighth  circle ;  the  latter  in  the  ninth,  i.  e.,  lower 
down,  because  worse. 

The  entire  eighth  circle  is  called  Malebolge, 
which  means  "Evil-pits" ;  hollows  in  which  the  evil 
spirits  are  prisoned  and  punished.  This  eighth 
circle,  Malebolge,  is  a  truncated  cone-shaped  de- 
pression. In  other  words,  the  land  slopes  inward 
and  downward  from  the  encircling  base  of  the  preci- 
pice at  the  foot  of  which  Geryon  has  just  landed 
Dante,  to  a  lower  circular  opening,  the  throat  really 
of  the  deepest  part  of  Hell.  This  slope  is  cut  up  by 
ten  concentric  valleys  or  ravines,  holge,  divided  from 
one  another  by  walls  of  rock.  One  of  these  circular 
ravines  lies  below  another  in  descending  order  and 
the  walls  between  them  are  connected  by  arched 
bridges  of  rock.  Virgil  leads  Dante  across  the 
bridges  from  one  wall  to  the  next.    Thus  they  de- 


DANTE  101 

scend  through  Malebolge  seeing  and  conversing  with 
some  of  the  shades  in  each  of  the  ten  pits. 

CANTO  xvni 

The  first  and  second  valleys  of  Malebolge.  In 
the  first  valley  are  procurers  and  seducers:  in  the 
second,  flatterers. 

Along  the  dismal  rock  on  this  side  and  on  that, 
I  saw  horned  demons  with  great  whips  striking  the 
shades  cruelly  from  behind.  Ah,  how  the  first  lash 
made  them  run!  None  waited  for  a  second  cut. 
From  the  old  bridge  we  gazed  at  a  troop  which  was 
approaching. 

VIRGIL 

"Look  at  that  great  one  who  is  coming  and  sheds 
not  a  tear  for  all  his  pain.  He  is  Jason  who, 
through  courage  and  through  cunning,  bore  the 
golden  fleece  away  from  Colchis.  He  cruised  round 
the  island  of  Lemnos  after  the  brave  and  heartless 
women  had  killed  all  the  men.  It  was  there  that  he, 
with  his  wooing  and  his  skilful  arguments,  deceived 
the  maiden  Hypsipyle,*  who,  before,  had  herself 
deceived  all  the  others.  It  was  there  he  left  her, 
big  with  child,  and  forsaken.  Such  sin  brings  him 
to  such  punishment.    And  for  treating  Medea  in  the 

*  Hypsipyle  by  a  deceit  managed  to  save  her  father  in  spite 
of  her  agreement  to  join  in  killing  all  the  men. 


102  DANTE 

same  way  is  this  vengeance  wreaked  on  him.    With 
him  go  all  who  practise  to  deceive  in  like  fashion." 

Looking  down  into  the  second  valley  Dante  saw 
a  shade  plunged  in  filth  and  so  befouled  that  it  was 
not  possible  to  discover  whether  he  was  a  layman 
or  a  priest. 

SHADE 

"Why  are  you  more  keen  to  stare  at  me  than  af 
all  the  other  filthy  ones  ?" 

DANTE 

"Because,  if  my  memory  is  not  playing  me  a 
trick,  I  have  ere  now  seen  you  with  dry  hair,  and 
you  are  Alessio  Interminei  of  Lucca.^  That  is  why 
I  stare  more  at  you  than  all  others." 

ALESSIO 

"Down  here  the  flatteries  with  which  my  tongue 
was  never  cloyed  have  submerged  me." 

CANTO   XIX 

The  third  valley  of  Malebolge.  Simonists;  those 
who  buy  and  sell  the  things  of  God  for  money. 
Here  Dante  sees  the  stone  floor  of  the  valley  full  of 
holes  and  out  of  each,  up  to  the  calf,  a  pair  of  legs 

•  The  only  fact  known  of  him  is  that  he  was  a  flatterer. 


DANTE  103 

protruding;  the  soles    of  the    feet    covered  with 
flames, 

DANTE 

"Who  is  he,  master,  who  seems  to  suffer  more 
than  his  companions,  and  whom  a  hotter  flame 
Hcks?" 

VIRGIL 

"If  you  are  willing  to  have  me  carry  you  down 
there,  you  shall  learn  from  him  about  his  wrongs." 

DANTE 

"Whatever  pleases  you  is  to  my  liking.  You  are 
Lord,  and  you  know  that  my  will  is  your  will,  and 
you  understand  me  although  I  say  not  a  word." 

Virgil  carries  Dante  down. 

DANTE 

"O  miserable  soul,  whoever  you  may  be  that  stays 
upside  down,  planted  like  a  stake,  speak  to  me  if 
you  can." 

SHADE 

"Are  you  already  here,  Boniface?  Are  you  so 
soon  sated  wifh  that  for  the  sake  of  which  you  did 


104  DANTE 

not  fear  to  seize  by  treachery  the  beautitful  Lady* 
and  then  to  do  her  outrage  ?" 

I  was  like  those  who,  because  they  do  not  compre- 
hend an  answer,  stand  as  if  mocked,  not  knowing 
what  to  reply. 

VIRGIL 

"Tell  him  quickly,  *I  am  not  he,  I  am  not  he  whom 
you  think.'  " 

I  did  as  I  was  directed. 

SHADE 

"What  is  it,  then,  that  you  want  of  me?  If  to 
learn  who  I  am  concerned  you  so  much  that  it 
brought  you  down  here,  know  that  I  wore  the  Great 
Mantle.  It  is  true  I  was  a  son  of  the  She-Bear,* 
so  eager  to  advance  the  cubs,  that  up  in  the  world 
I  put  riches,  and  down  here  myself,  into  the  sack.* 
Beneath  me  are  the  others  who  practised  simony 
before  me,  pushed  down,  flattened  through  the 
cracks  of  the  rock.  There  below,  in  my  turn,  I 
shall  sink  down  when  he  for  whom  I  mistook  you, 
comes." 


(  *The  Church,  Bride  of  Christ,  which  Pope  Boniface  VIII 
'got  by  a  trick  played  on  Celestine  V,  in  order  to  win  the 
Papacy  for  himself. 

*  She-Bear,  the  emblem  on  the  arms  of  the  Orsini  family, 
of  which  family  Pope  Nicholas  III  was  a  member.  It  is  the 
.shade  of  Nicholas  III  who  is  talking. 

•  He  put  money,  got  by  simony,  into  his  purse  and  as  a  re- 
sult got  himself  put  into  the  valley,  pouch,  purse,  Malebolge. 


DANTE  105 


DANTE 


"Tell  me,  pray,  how  much  money  did  our  Lord 
insist  on  having  from  St.  Peter  before  He  would 
trust  the  keys  to  him?  Surely  he  asked  nothing 
save,  'Follow  thou  me.'*  Neither  did  Peter  or  the 
others  receive  gold  or  silver  from  Matthias  when  he 
was  chosen  by  lot  for  the  place  left  empty  by  the 
guilty  one."  And  were  it  not  for  reverence  of  those 
supreme  keys  which  you  held  on  Earth,  I  would  use 
yet  harder  words  because  your®  avarice  afflicts  the 
world,  trampling  down  the  good  and  exalting  the 
bad.  You  shepherds  the  Evangelist  had  in  mind 
when  he  beheld  her  that  sitteth  on  the  waters  for- 
nicating with  kings.  You  have  made  you  a  god  of 
gold  and  silver.  And  what  difference  is  there  be- 
tween you  and  the  idolaters  save  that  they  adore 
one,  and  you  a  hundred?  Ah,  Constantine!  of  how 
much  ill  was  mother,  not  your  conversion,  but  the 
gift  which  the  first  rich  Father  received  from  you."^ 


•  Matthew  xvi  :19.    John  xxi  :19-22. 
•Acts  i:  15-26. 

•  The  plural,  "your,"  means  the  pastors  of  the  Church  gen- 
erally. 

*The  donation  by  the  Emperor  Constantine  of  the  States 
of  the  Church,  and  of  the  entire  temporal  power  of  the  West, 
to  Pope  Sylvester  I.  This  "donation,"  or  gift,  now  known  to 
have  been  a  forgery,  was  believed  in  by  all,  formerly. 


106    ■  DANTE 

CANTO   XX 

Fourth  valley.  In  it  suffer  all  those  who  in  life 
had  been  fortune-tellers,  diviners  and  magicians. 

CANTOS   XXI   AND   XXII 

Fifth  valley.  Here  are  punished  the  malicious 
stirrers-up  of  discord. 

CANTO    XXIII 

Sixth  valley.    Hypocrites. 

There  below  we  discovered  a  painted  people,  who, 
in  tears,  were  moving  with  extremely  slow  steps, 
and  in  look  were  weary  and  depressed.  They  wore 
cloaks  with  hoods  lowered  before  their  eyes,  fash- 
ioned after  those  worn  by  the  monks  of  Cluny. 
Outwardly  they  are  gilded  and  glisten,  but  within 
they  are  lead,  and  so  heavy  that  those  which  Fred- 
erick used  to  have  put  on  were  of  straw  by  com- 
parison.*   O  mantle  of  eternal  weariness ! 

Because  of- this  weight,  those  weary  shades  were 
proceeding  so  slowly  that  at  every  step  we  had  new 
companions. 


*  Frederick  used  to  put  lead  coverings,  or  cloaks,  on  crim- 
inals who  were  to  be  burned  to  death. 


DANTE  107 

DANTE 

"Contrive  to  find  some  one  who  may  be  known 
by  deed  or  name,  and  as  we  go  along  cast  your  eyes 
around.'* 

One  who  recognized  the  Tuscan  dialect,^  called 
out  behind  us : 

"Wait,  you  who  are  making  your  way  so  rap- 
idly through  the  dark  air.  Maybe  you  can  learn 
what  you  want  to  know  from  me." 

VIRGIL 

"Stop  a  moment,  and  then  make  his  pace  yours." 

I  stopped  and  saw  two  who,  by  their  expression, 
showed  great  haste  of  mind  to  be  with  me,  but  their 
load  and  the  crowded  way  held  them  back. 

When  they  had  come  up,  with  sidelong  glance, 
they  stared  at  me  some  time  without  saying  a,  word ; 
then  turned  to  each  other. 

SHADE 

"By  the  movement  of  his  throat  when  he  speaks 
I  take  him  to  be  alive,  but  if  he  belongs  among  the 
dead,  by  what  right  does  he  go  without  the  heavy 
robe?" 


*He  recognized  the  peculiar  dialect  or  speech  of  Florence, 
namely  Tuscan. 


108  DANTE 

Then  he  said,  turning  to  me : 

"O  Tuscan,  who  to  the  assembly  of  the  wretched 
hypocrites  has  come,  be  not  too  proud  to  tell  us  who 
you  are." 

DANTE 

**I  was  bom  and  raised  by  the  fair  river  Arno,  at 
the  great  town,  and  I  have  the  flesh  that  I  have  .al- 
ways had.  But  who  are  you  In  whom  such  misery 
distils,  as  I  see  upon  your  cheeks?  What  is  this 
punishment  that  so  glitters  on  you?" 

SHADE 

"The  golden  cloaks  are  of  lead  so  thick  that  their 
weight  makes  our  shoulders  creak.  Jolly^  Friars 
were  we,  and  our  town  was  Bologna ;  I  called  Cnta- 
lano ;  he  Loderingo.  Together,  we  were  chosen  by 
your  city,  as  one  man  alone  is  usually  chosen  for 
guardian  of  the  peace."* 

DANTE 

**0  Friars,  your  misdeeds" — 

But  further  I  did  not  go  for  my  eye  caught  sight 


•Jolly  because  of  their  free  and  easy  ways  of  life. 

*  Being  of  opposing  political  parties,  and  outsiders,  they 
were  invited  to  Florence  and  elected  to  hold,  and  administer 
cojointly,  the  office  of  chief  magistrate,  the  idea  being  to  get 
a  fair  government.  The  outcome  was  a  miserable  failure,  for 
Catalano  and  Loderingo  soon  lost  the  public  confidence  be- 
cause of  their  hypocrisy  and  peculations. 


DANTE  109 

of  one  crucified  upon  the  ground.  When  he  saw 
me  he  writhed  all  over,  breathing  sighs  into  his 
beard. 

CATALANO 

**That  transfixed  creature  on  whom  you  are  look- 
ing counseled  the  Pharisees  that  it  was  expedient  to 
put  one  man  to  torture  for  the  people."  Naked  and 
across  the  path,  as  you  see,  he  must  feel  how  much 
each  one  weighs  who  passes.  And  in  the  same 
manner  his  father-in-law*  is  stretched  out  in  this 
valley,  along  with  the  others  of  that  Council  which, 
for  the  Jews,  was  the  beginning  of  trouble." 

Then  I  saw  Virgil  puzzled  and  astonished'  over 
him  who  lay  crucified  so  shamefully  in  this  place  of 
eternal  exile. 

Cantos  xxiv  and  xxy 

Seventh  valley.  The  ascent  from  the  sixtH  valley, 
or  holge,  to  the  top  of  the  division  wall  between 

•  Caiaphas,  who  said :  "It  is  expedient  for  us,  that  one  man 
should  die  for  the  people."    John  xi  :50. 

•Annas.  "Now  Annas  had  sent  him  bound  unto  Caiaphas 
the  high  priest."    John  xviii  :24. 

*  Virgil  was  of  course  unaware  of  the  story  of  Christ's 
Crucifixion.  Dante's  representing  him  as  utterly  baffled  by  the 
sight  and  story  of  these  crucified  hypocrites,  is  a  character- 
istic touch  of  genius.  It  compels  our  acceptance  of  the  narra- 
tive for  truth,  and  it  calls  to,  and  fills  the  mind  with,  thoughts 
of  an  hypocrisy  which  has  played  a  tremendous  role  in  the 
world's  history  for  nearly  two  thousand  years  and  in  doing  so 
gives  the  weight  of  authority  and  importance  to  the  entire 
scene. 


110  DANTE 

it  and  the  seventh,  is  very  difficult,  the  bridge  being 
down.  Dante  is  alarmed,  for  he  sees  at  a  glance 
that  his  guide  is  worried,  but  soon  his  courage  is 
restored  by  Virgil's  hopeful  expression,  and  the 
fact  that  he  actually  takes  him  in  his  arms  and 
carries  him  up  the  precipice.  The  canto  opens 
with  a  long  simile  based  on  Dante's  fear,  followed 
by  the  renewal  of  hope  and  faith.  The  thought 
of  a  sweet,  calm,  rural  scene,  and  the  atmosphere 
of  serenity  which  the  simile  here  introduces  is 
in  itself  a  marvel, — few  word  landscapes  are  its 
equal — while  the  quiet  and  peace  of  it,  offer  a 
moment  of  welcome  relief  from  the  horrors  that 
precede  and  follow.  In  this  moment  the  mind  is 
prepared,  as  it  were,  by  the  very  beauty  of  the  pic- 
ture, and  the  contrast  with  what  follows  it,  for  ap- 
preciating the  still  greater  horrors  to  come.  For 
sheer  economy  of  effort  with  a  maximum  of  effect, 
in  piling  anguish  and  terror  mountain  high,  and  a 
consummate  knowledge  of  the  value  of  contrast,  as 
well  as  gradation,  the  last  ten  cantos  of  Hell  are  un- 
surpassed. 

The  simile  of  the  fireflies.  Hell,  Canto  XXVI,  and 
the  entrancing  description  of  the  brooks  of  the  Cas- 
entino.  Hell,  Canto  XXX,  belong  in  the  same  class, 
and  serve  the  same  purpose,  the  Casentino  more 
even  than  the  others. 

In  that  part  of  the  new  year  when  the  sun's  rays 


DANTE  111 

grow  warm,  and  he  enters  Aquarius/  and  the  nights 
are  shortening  toward  the  south,^  when  upon  the 
Earth  the  hoar-frost  makes  a  likeness  of  her  white 
sister,  though  the  work  of  her  pen  is  short  lived,  the 
peasant  whose  supplies  fail,  goes  out  and  looks 
about  and  sees  the  fields  all  white,  whereat  he  strikes 
his  thigh  in  despair  and  returns  indoors  again, 
grumbling  the  while,  like  a  poor  fellow  who  knows 
not  what  to  do ;  then  once  more  goes  out  and  picks 
up  hope,  seeing  the  world  to  have  changed  look  in  a 
short  time,  and  takes  his  crook  and  drives  his  sheep 
to  pasture. 

In  the  twenty-fifth  canto  there  occurs  an  ex- 
traordinary passage  based  on  a  portion  of  Ovid's 
Metamorphoses,  not  a  copy  of  it;  an  instance  of 
Dante's  power  to  make  a  thing  which  utterly 
surpasses  human  experience  and  transcends  be- 
lief, appear  credible.  The  most  commonplace  and 
familiar  of  every-day  occurrences  is  knit  up  with  the 
miraculous,  in  such  a  manner  as  keeps  both  con- 
stantly and  vividly  before  the  reader's  mind,  the 
result  produced  being  that  rarest  of  all  things,  poetic 
conviction. 

Three  shades  suddenly  make  their  presence  known 
to  Dante  and  Virgil,  by  calling  to  them  for  their 
names.    While  Dante  is  peering  at  them,  one  says : 

*The  eleventh  sign  of  the  Zodiac  which  the  sun  enters  on 
January  21st. 
'  Lengthening  days,  and  nights  growing  shorter. 


112  DANTE 

**.Where  can  Cianfa'  have  strayed?" 

Dante  motions  to  Virgil  to  be  attentive  and  then, 
together,  they  behold  the  miracle  begin,  and  watch 
it  to  the  end.  The  subject  is  one  Agnello,  a  fraudu- 
lent thief  like  Cianfa. 

If,  Reader,  you  are  loath  to  believe  what  I  am 
about  to  tell,  it  will  be  no  wonder,  for  I  who  saw  it 
scarcely  believe  it.  While  I  looked  at  the  three 
shades,  a  serpent  with  six  feet  darted  in  front  of 
one  of  them  and  laid  hold  all  over  him.  With  its 
middle  feet  it  hugged  his  belly;  with  its  forefeet  it 
laid  hold  on  his  arms,  then  stuck  its  teeth  in  both  his 
cheeks.  Its  hind  legs  it  spread  out  upon  his  thighs, 
and  put  its  tail  between,  and  stretched  it  up  behind. 
Ivy  never  clung  so  tight  upon  a  tree  as  the  horrible 
beast  wound  its  own  about  the  other's  limbs.  Then 
they  melted  together  as  if  they  had  been  hot  wax, 
and  mingled  their  color,  and  now  neither  seemed  the 
same  which  it  had  been.  It  was  as  when  fire  con- 
sumes paper,  a  dark  color,  not  yet  black,  runs  up  the 
sheet,  and  the  white  vanishes.  Meantime  the  other 
two  shades  were  looking  on  and  each  cried:  "O 
me !  Agnel,'  how  you  change !  You  are  neither  two 
nor  one."  Now  the  two  heads  became  one,  and 
there  appeared  to  be  two  countenances  so  mingled 

•One  whose  reputation   for  being  a  fraudulent  thief  has 
lasted,  but  of  whom  nothing  is  known. 


DANTE  113 

in  one  face  that  both  were  lost.  The  two  arms,  and 
the  beasts'  forefeet,  thighs  and  legs,  belly  and  chest, 
became  parts  never  seen  before.  Every  original 
look  had  vanished.  Both,  and  neither,  appeared  the 
perverted  image,  and  such,  with  slow  step  it  went 
away. 

As  a  lizard  going  from  hedge  to  hedge  in  the 
fierce  heat  of  dog-days  flashes,  if  it  cross  one's 
path,  such  seemed  a  small  fiery  serpent,  livid  and 
black  as  a  pepper  corn,  coming  toward  the  bellies 
of  the  pair  that  were  molten  together.  It  pierced 
the  navel  of  one  of  them,  then  fell  down  stretched 
out  before  him.  The  pierced  one  gazed  at  it,  but 
did  not  speak;  nay  with  feet  fixed,  he  began  to 
yawn,  just  as  if  sleep  or  fever  had  fallen  on  him. 
He  looked  on  the  serpent  and  the  serpent  on  him. 
Each  was  smoking  violently,  one  at  the  wound,  the 
other  at  the  mouth,  and  the  smoke  mingled  together. 
After  this  let  Lucan  be  silent,  where  he  tells  of  the 
miserable  Sabellus  and  of  Nasidius,*  and  let  him 
pause  to  hear  that  which  is  now  about  to  be  revealed. 
Let  Ovid  be  silent  about  Cadmus  and  Arethusa,  for 
if,  in  writing  poetry,  he  changes  him  into  a  serpent, 
and  her  into  a  fountain,  I  do  not  grudge  it  to  him, 
for  never  did  he  transmute  creatures  front  to  front, 
so  that  the  spiritual  beings  of  both  were  prompt  to 
exchange  their  material  substance.    They  responded 


*  Sabellus,  bitten  by  a  snake,  melted  away.    Nasidius,  bitten 
by  another,  swelled  up  until  he  burst  his  armor. 


114  DANTE 

to  one  another  in  such  a  fashion,  that  the  serpent 
divided  his  tail  into  a  fork,  and  the  wounded  shade 
drew  his  feet  together  so  that  they  became  one.  The 
legs  and  thighs  stuck  so .  close  together,  that  in 
short  time  the  place  where  they  were  joined  showed 
no  mark.  The  cleft  tail  was  taking  on  the  shape 
that  the  legs  were  losing.  Its  skin  was  becoming 
soft,  and  theirs,  hard.  I  beheld  the  arms  drawn  in 
iat  the  armpits,  and  the  two  feet  of  the  beast  grow 
,'long  in  proportion  as  the  arms  grew  short. 

While  the  smoke  gives  each  a  color  other  than  his 
own,  and  brings  out  hair  in  one  part,  and  strips  it 
from  another,  the  one  rose  up  and  the  other  fell 
down,  yet  not  for  all  this  did  they  take  their  evil 
eyes,  beneath  which  each  was  changing,  off  each 
other.  He  who  was  standing  drew  his  muzzle  up 
toward  his  temples,  and  out  of  the  excess  of  mate- 
rial, ears  appeared  on  the  smooth  cheeks.  The  ma- 
terial which  did  not  run  back,  but  was  kept,  of  its 
overabundance  formed  a  nose  for  the  face  and 
thickened  the  lips  as  much  as  was  needed.  He  that 
jvas  lying  down  pushed  his  muzzle  forward  and 
drew  his  ears  backward  into  his  head,  as  the  snail 
its  horns.  And  his  tongue  which  was  whole,  and 
suited  for  speaking,  split  itself,  and  the  cleft  tongue 
of  the  other  closed  up,  and  the  smoke  stopped.  The 
shade  that  had  turned  beast  fled  hissing  along  the 
valley,  and  the  other  spluttered  behind  it.  Then  he 
turned  his  back  on  him,  and  said  to  the  third  mem- 


DANTE  115 

ber  of  the  group,  "I  want  Buoso  to  run,  as  I  have, 
on  his  belly  along  this  path." 

Thus  I  saw  the  vile  occupants  of  the  seventh 
valley  change  and  transmute.  And  in  this  place  let 
the  novelty  of  the  subject  be  my  excuse  if  my  style 
is  a  little  overdetailed. 

CANTOS   XXVI   AND   XXVII 

The  eighth  valley.  Fraudulent  counselors.  The 
twenty-sixth  canto  opens  with  a  fiercely  ironical 
apostrophe  to  his  native  town. 

Rejoice,  O  Florence,  since  you  are  so  great  that 
your  wings  stretch  o'er  land  and  sea,  and  your  name 
is  familiar  throughout  Hell ! 

In  this  valley  of  Malebolge  Dante  sees  lights, 
forked  flames  or  tongues  of  fire,  each  of  which 
wraps  the  shade  of  some  one  who  gave  counsel  with 
the  intent  to  deceive.  It  is  here  that  he  makes  use 
of  the  fireflies*  in  so  remarkable  a  figure,  and  then 
heightens  the  color  of  his  picture  by  a  reference  to 
Elijah,  a  charming  bit  of  nature,  and  a  story  for 
ages  stamped  with  sacred  authority,  both  success-' 
fully  used  to  attract  the  reader's  attention  and  chain 
it  upon  the  strange  punishment  of  the  eighth  valley. 

*  See  Cantos  XXIV-XXV.  prefatory  note. 


116  DANTE 

As  numerous  as  the  fireflies  which,  in  the  season 
when  the  sun  shines  longest,  the  peasant,  who  at 
twilight,  when  flies  go  and  gnats  come,  is  taking  his 
ease  on  the  hillside,  sees  down  in  the  valley,  perhaps 
where  he  gathers  grapes  and  plows — with  flames 
so  numerous,  the  whole  of  the  eighth  pit  was  flash- 
ing I  perceived,  as  soon  as  I  was  where  I  could  get 
a  view  of  the  bottom.  And  as  he**  who  was  avenged 
by  the  bears  beheld  the  chariot  of  Elijah  at  its  de- 
parture, when  the  fiery  horses^  rose  straight  into 
Heaven — for  he  could  not  follow  it  so  as  to  distin- 
guish more  than  the  flame  which  rose  like  a  little 
cloud — so  in  like  manner  here,  every  flame  was  mov- 
ing along  this  valley,  for  none  shows  what  it  con- 
ceals, yet  every  one  hides  a  sinner. 

VIRGIL 

"Within  these  flames  are  spirits.  Each  is  w  rapped 
by  that  with  which  he  is  burnt." 

DANTE 

"Master,  who  is  in  that  flame  which  now  ap- 
proaches and  which  is  so  divided  at  the  tip  that  it 
looks  as  if  it  rose  from  the  p)Te  on  which  Eteocles 
and  his  brother  were  laid?" 


*  Elisha.    2  Kings  ii  :9-24. 


DANTE  117; 

VIRGIL 

"Within  that  fire  Ulysses  and  Diomed  are  tor- 
mented, and  thus  they  go  together  in  punishment, 
as  of  old  in  wrath." 

Dante  expresses  a  strong  desire  to  hear  these  spir- 
its of  the  fire  speak,  and  Virgil  immediately  ap- 
proves, saying  that  it  will  be  best,  however,  for  him 
to  make  the  request,  "for,  because  they  were  Greeks 
they  would  pay  no  heed  to  your  words,"  meaning 
perhaps  that  they  would  not  understand  Italian. 

VIRGIL 

"O  you,  who  are  two  within  a  single  flame,  if 
I  deserved  of  you  while  I  lived,  if  I  deserved  of 
you  much  or  little,  when  in  the  world  I  wrote  my 
noble  verses,  move  not,  but  let  one  of  you  tell  where, 
after  losing  his  course,  he  went  to  meet  death." 

ULYSSES 

"When  I  left  Circe,  who  had  kept  me  more  than 
a  year  near  Gaeta,  before  /Eneas  named  it,  neither 
affection  for  my  son,  nor  piety  towards  my  aged 
father,  nor  the  proper  love  which  should  have  been 
the  delight  of  Penelope,  could  outweigh  my  zeal  for 
experience  of  the  world,  and  of  the  vices  of  men, 


118  DANTE 

and  of  their  virtue.  I  put  out  upon  the  deep,  open 
sea,  with  one  ship  only,  and  with  the  few  companions 
who  had  not  forsaken  me.  I  saw  one  shore  and  the 
other,  as  far  as  Spain,  as  far  as  Morocco ;  the  island 
of  Sardinia,  and  the  other  islands  bathed  by  the  sea. 
I  and  my  companions  were  old  men  and  slow,  when 
we  reached  the  narrow  strait  where  Hercules  set 
up  his  bounds  with  the  intention  that  man  should 
not  sail  beyond.  On  the  right  hand  I  left  Seville. 
I  had  already  left  Ceuta  on  the  other.  *0  brothers,* 
I  cried,  *you  who  through  a  hundred  thousand  dan- 
gers have  reached  the  West,  to  the  brief  remainder 
of  your  life  wish  not  to  deny  experience,  following 
the  sun,  of  the  world  that  has  no  inhabitants.  Con- 
sider your  origin;  you  were  not  made  to  live  like 
brutes,  but  for  the  pursuit  of  virtue  and  wisdom.* 
With  this  brief  speech  I  made  my  comrades  so  eager 
for  the  voyage  that  afterward  I  could  hardly  have 
kept  them  back'.  Holding  our  stem  to  the  East, 
of  our  oars  we  made  wings  for  the  mad  flight, 
always  steering  southwestward.  The  night  now 
showed  all  the  stars  of  the  other  pole,  while  ours 
were  so  low  that  they  rose  not  above  the  ocean  floor. 
Five  times  the  moon  had  changed  since  we  began 
to  voyage  the  deep,  when  a  mountain  loomed  dark 
in  the  distance,  and  it  seemed  to  me  higher  than 
ever  I  had  seen  one.  We  rejoiced,  but  soon  our 
gladness  turned  to  lamentation,  for,  forth  from  the 
strange  land,  a  whirlwind  swept,  and  struck  our 


DANTE  119. 

ship's  bow.  Three  times  it  made  her  turn  around, 
and  the  fourth  it  made  her  stern  Hft  up,  and  her 
prow  go  down,  as  pleased  Another,  till  the  sea  had 
closed  over  us."" 

CANTO    XXVIII 

The  ninth  valley.  In  it  are  punished  the  sowers 
of  discord  and  schism. 

CANTOS   XXIX   AND   XXX       * 

The  tenth  and  last  valley  of  Malebolge.*  Falsi- 
fiers of  every  sort — of  metals,  the  alchemists — ^and 
those    who   pretend   to   be   who   and   what   they 

•This  story  which  Dante  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Ulysses  is 
entirely  unlike  the  story  of  Ulysses's  peaceful  end_  as  given 
in  the  Odyssey,  xi.  It  is  probably  Dante's  own  invention. 
Some  Genoese  voyages  in  search  of  a  western  continent  were 
made  during  tlie  last  decade  of  the  thirteenth  century,  one  in 
1291,  of  which  nothing  was  ever  heard.  This  may  have  given 
Dante  the  idea  of  sending  Ulysses  out  beyond  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  into  the  unknown  Atlantic.  Ulysses'  character  is 
shown  in  the  traditional  aspect  as  described  in  the  Odyssey, 
but  the  circumstances,  one  and  all,  are  as  original  with  Dante 
as  in  themselves  they  are  fascinating.  It  is  not  easily  con- 
ceivable tliat  the  thirst  for  knowledge  and  experience,  for 
its  own  sake,  could  be  more  completely  described,  or  that  a 
more  moving  speech  in  behalf  of  such  thirst  could  be  made  to 
human  beings  keen  already  beyond  ordinary.  The  story  car- 
ries with  it  the  very  breath  of  youth,  the  youth  of  all  that 
voyaging  in  search  of  a  new  world,  not  destined  to  become  the 
reality  of  finding  for  two  centuries  after  Dante's  time.  It  is 
an  inspired  as  well  as  a  formulaic  utterance  conceniing  man's 
willingness  to  make  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  knowledge,  and 
his  insatiate  love  of  novelty. 

*  See  Prefatory  note,  Cantos  XVIII  to  XXX  inc.,  page  99. 


120  DANTE  ^    • 

are  not,  counterfeiters  and  perjurers.  They  are 
punished  with  the  most  repulsive  diseases,  mental 
and  physical. 

Such  misery  was  here  as  there  would  be  if,  be- 
tween July  and  September,  the  sick  from  all  the  hos- 
pitals of  Valdichiana,  Maremma  and  Sardinia  were 
together  in  a  single  ditch.  Such  stench  came  up 
thence  as  comes  from  rotting  flesh.  I  do  not  believe 
it  was  greater  sorrow  to  see  the  whole  people  sick 
in  ^gina^  when  the  air  was  so  full  of  pestilence 
that  the  animals,  even  the  little  worm,  fell  dead. 
One  lay  on  his  own  belly,  and  one  on  the  shoulders 
of  another,  and  one  on  all  fours  shifted  his  place 
along  the  dismal  road.  Step  by  step,  without  a 
word,  we  went,  looking  at,  and  listening  to  these 
sick  ones  who  could  not  raise  themselves. 

One  of  the  shades  speaks  to  Dante,  saying : 

"Look  sharp  at  me  so  that  you  may  clearly  dis- 
cern my  face  and  you  will  perceive  that  I  am  the 
shade  of  Capocchio,^  who  by  alchemy  falsified  the 
metals,  and  you  should  recall,  if  my  eyes  serve  me 
aright,  how  good  an  ape  of  nature  I  was." 

A  shade  utterly  distorted  by  dropsy,  the  punish- 


*  Story  told  by  Ovid  of  the  whole  population  of  JEgina 
dying  by.  pestilence. 

*It  is  supposed  that  Dante  and  Capoccio  had  been  ac- 
quainted in  life. 


DANTE  121 

ment  given  him  for  having  made  counterfeit  money, 
addresses  Dante.  At  the  beginning  of  his  story  he 
makes  use  of  the  lovely  figure*  based  on  the  brooks 
of  the  Casentino,  a  peaceful,  pastoral  district  in  the 
upper  valley  of  the  Arno.  The  shade  that  speaks 
is  Master  Adam  of  Brescia,  vv^ho  was  persuaded 
to  counterfeit  the  coin  of  Florence  by  Count  Guido, 
of  Romena.  The  calm  beauty  of  the  figure  with 
which  Master  Adam  begins  his  story  serves  to 
heighten  the  sense  of  personal  suffering  almost  be- 
yond comprehension.  It  also  furnishes  a  last  touch 
of  relief  before  the  final  descent  to  the  bottommost 
circle  of  Hell  where  Dante  is  to  find  fratricides 
and  traitors  in  a  motionless  world  of  ice,  and  last 
of  all,  Judas  Iscariot,  everlastingly  consumed,  his 
parts  reassembled  and  then  reconsumed,  by  Lucifer 
himself.  If,  as  Leigh  Hunt  said,  the  Francesca  epi- 
sode is  like  a  "lily  in  the  mouth  of  Tartarus,"  the 
Casentino  picture  is  like  a  bit  of  the  Vale  of  Tempe 
in  the  abyss  of  Hades.  If  ever  there  was  a  perfect 
instance  of  the  appreciation  of  Wordsworth's  doc- 
trine, "From  Nature  doth  emotion  come,  and  moods 
of  Calmness  equally  are  Nature's  gift,"  it  is  to 
be  found  in  this  passage,  and  in  the  use  made 
of  the  Casentino  brooks.  Again  here,  as  in  the 
fifth  canto  of  Hell,  Dante  takes  the  opportunity  to 
declare  in  a  form  of  imperishable  beauty  the  im- 
perishable fact  that  the  possible  suffering  of  the 

*See  Cantos  XXIV-XXV.  Prefatory  note. 


122  DANTE 

mind  far  outweighs  the  extremest  possible  suffer- 
ing of  the  flesh;  that  there  is  no  greater  woe  than 
remembering  in  misery  the  happy  time."  But, 
as  with  pictures,  more  can  be  learned  by  looking  at 
them  than  by  hearing  or  reading  about  them,  so  is  it 
with  the  works  of  a  poet  like  Dante.  The  real 
excuse  for  a  comment  on  any  of  the  things  of 
poetry  is  that  it  may  lead  others  to  prove  its  value 
by  examining  into  the  things  which  gave  rise  to  the 
comment,  and  so  learn  to  love  it  themselves. 

MASTER  ADAM 

"O  you,  who  are  without  punishment,  and  I  know 
not  why,  in  this  dark  underworld,  behold  and  con- 
sider the  misery  of  Master  Adam.  In  life  I  had 
enough  of  what  I  wished,  and  now  I  long  for  a 
single  drop  of  water.  The  little  brooks  that  from 
the  green  hills  of  the  Casentin  run  down  into  the 
Amo,  keeping  their  courses  cool  and  moist,  stand 
ever  before  me,  and  not  without  effect.  The  vision 
of  them  parches  me  more  than  the  disease  because 
of  which  I  strip  the  flesh  from  my  face.  Inflexible 
justice  goads  me.  Romena"  was  where  I  counter- 
feited the  coin  stamped  with  the  Baptist,'  for  which 
on  Earth  I  left  my  body  burnt.    But  if  I  could  see 

'  Canto  V. 

'  Romena,  a  village  in  the  Casentino  valley. 
*  The  Baptist  was  patron  saint  of  Florence  and  his  fignre 
was  on  its  coins. 


DANTE  123 

the  wretched  soul  of  Guido  or  Alesandro'  in  this 
place,  I  would  not  exchange  the  sight  for  Fonte 
Branda.^  One  of  them  is  already  here,  if  the  fu- 
rious shades  that  can  move  about  tell  me  the  truth, 
but  how  does  that  help  me  who  am  bound  fast? 
If  I  were  only  light  enough  to  move  a  single  inch 
in  a  hundred  years,  already  I  should  have  started 
out  upon  the  road  to  seek  him  among  these  de- 
formed people,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  road 
circles  eleven  miles  around/**  It  is  they  who  are  the 
cause  of  my  being  among  such  folk.  They  per- 
suaded me  to  coin  the  florins  which  contained  three 
carats  of  base  metal." 

DANTE 

"Who  are  those  two  poor  wretches  steaming  like 
wet  hands  in  winter,  lying  huddled  together  on  your 
right  hand?" 

MASTER  ADAM 

"Here  I  found  them  when  I  was  hurled  down 
into  this  chasm.  They  have  not  moved  since,  and 
I  do  not  believe  that  they  will  move  to  all  eternity. 


•  The  men  who  inveigled  Master  Adam  into  doing  the  coun- 
terfeiting. 

•A  famous  fountain  in  Siena. 

"An  interesting  example  of  Dante's  concreteness  of  state- 
ment made  to  convince  the  reader  of  the  reahty  of  the  place 
which  he  is  describing. 


124  DANTE 

One  is  the  false  woman  who  accused  Joseph.**  The 
other  is  that  perjurous  Sinon/^  the  Greek,  from 
Troy.  Because  of  their  high  fever  do  they  stink  so." 

And  one  of  them  who  was  perhaps  annoyed  by 
being  called  hard  names  struck  Master  Adam  in 
the  stomach.  The  sound  was  like  a  drum.  There- 
on Master  Adam  hit  him  a  blow  in  the  face  which 
seemed  not  softer,  saying  to  him : 

"Although  I  can  not  move  because  of  my  heavy 
legs,  yet  have  I  an  arm  free  for  such  need  as  this." 

SINON 

"When  you  were  on  your  way  to  be  burned  you 
had  no  free  arm,  though  free  enough  when  you  were 
at  your  counterfeiting." 

MASTER  ADAM 

"Of  this  you  speak  truly,  but  you  were  not  so 
trustworthy  a  witness  when  questioned  about  the 
facts  at  Troy." 

SINON 

"If  I  bore  false  testimony,  you  counterfeited,  and 
I  am  here  for  one  sin,  but  you  for  more  than  any 
other  demon."*^ 


"  Potiphar's  wife,  Gen.  xxxix,  7  et  seq. 
"Sinon,  the  treacherous  Greek  who  got  the  wooden  horse 
into  Troy. 
"  Each  counterfeit  coin  is  reckoned  a  sin. 


DANTE  125 

MASTER  ADAM 

"Perjurer,  remember  the  wooden  horse,  and  sorry 
for  you  is  it  that  all  the  world  remembers." 

SINON 

"And  ill  for  you  be  the  thirst  that  cracks  your 
tongue,  and  the  foul  water  which  lifts  your  belly  like 
a  barrier  before  your  eyes." 

MASTER  ADAM 

"Your  mouth  opens  to  its  own  hurt,  for  if  I  have 
thirst  and  the  water  of  dropsy  gorges  me,  you  have 
fever  and  headache;  to  lick  the  mirror  of  Narcissus 
you  would  not  need  a  second  invitation." 

I  stood  transfixed  while  listening  to  them.  Virgil 
said  sharply: 

"Take  your  fill  of  looking.  Not  much  more  were 
needed  to  make  me  quarrel  with  you." 

When  I  heard  him  speak  to  me  in  anger,  I  turned, 
o'ercome  with  a  shame  that  even  yet  lingers  in  my 
memory.  And  as  he  who  dreams  of  his  own  harm, 
and  dreaming,  hopes  that  it  is  a  dream,  so  that  he 
wishes  for  what  really  is,  as  if  it  were  something 


126  DANTE 

else,**  such  I  became,  powerless  to  speak,  for  I 
wanted  to  excuse  myself,  and  all  the  time  was  ex- 
cusing myself,  though  it  never  occurred  to  me  that 
I  was  doing  so. 

VIRGIL 

"Less  shame  would  condone  graver  fault  than 
yours.  Therefore  lay  aside  all  regret  and  remem- 
ber that  I  am  ever  at  your  side,  if  you  should  again 
happen  to  be  where  people  are  in  a  similar  brawl; 
for  the  wish  to  hear  this  sort  of  thing  is  a  base 
wish."*' 

CANTO   XXXI 

The  inner  wall  of  Malebolge,  where  the  circular 
precipice  of  Hell  falls  away  suddenly  and  deeply  to 
the  ninth  circle,  technically  speaking,  the  Pit  of  Hell. 

"  The  "something  else"  would  be  the  reality  of  waking.  If 
he  were  awake  he  would  wish  himself  in  a  dream  so  that  by 
waking  he  might  be  rid  of  the  fear  of  harm.  It  is  one  of  the 
many  similes  which  Dante  draws  from  mental  experience. 

"  Virgil's  stern  rebuke  to  Dante  for  allowing  himself  to  be- 
come engrossed  in  following  a  scandalous  brawl  is  one  of  the 
many  ways,  internal^  evidences,  to  make  use  of  a  common- 
place of  critical  erudition,  by  which  the  reader  of  The  Divine 
Comedy  may  know  with  certainty  what  were  its  author's 
ideals  of  behavior ;  in  a  word,  what  was  Dante's  notion  of  a 
gentleman.  Among  other  requirements,  this  he  lays  down, 
not  to  heed  backyard  bickerings,  low  quarrels  of  vulgar  or 
dishonest  persons,  which,  translated  into  modern  phrase, 
would  mean  not  giving  heed  or  time  to  yellow  journalism,  or 
slander.  It  is  true  beyond  doubt  that  there  are  few  books 
which  really  enable  the  reader  to  know  the  sort  of  man  their 
author  was  so  completely  as  The  Divine  Comedy,  for  although, 
in  one  sense,  Dante  always  keeps  himself  in  the  background, 
in  another  he  is  always  in  the  f oregroimd. 


DANTE  127 

Here  it  was  less  than  night  and  less  than  day,  so 
that  my  sight  took  in  but  little.  I  heard  a  mighty 
horn  reverberating.  So  loud  was  it  that  all  thunder, 
by  comparison,  would  sound  faint. 

The  precipice  is  guarded  by  giants  who  stand  on 
the  floor  of  the  Pit  below  and  rise,  from  the  waist 
up,  above  the  encircling  ledge  of  Malebolge.  At 
first,  in  the  twilight,  Dante  mistakes  these  giants  for 
towers,  but  later  discovers  their  real  nature ;  he  says 
that  as  he — 

drew  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  brink,  error  left  me 
and  fear  grew  upon  me.  It  is  certain  that  Nature 
when  she  ceased  to  make  such  creatures  did  exceed- 
ing well  to  take  from  Mars  such  soldiery,  and, 
though  she  does  not  repent  of  elephants  and  whales, 
he  who  thinks  carefully  esteems  her  therefore  only 
more  just  and  prudent.  For  where  the  power  of 
reason  is  added  to  evil  disposition,  and  to  strength, 
the  human  race  can  make  no  defense  against  it. 

One  of  the  giants,  Antaeus,  known  because  of 
his  fight  with  Hercules,  who  slew  him,  took  Virgil 
and  Dante  in  his  arms,  and,  says  Dante,  at  the  close 
of  the  canto: 

gently  in  the  depth  that  engulfs  Lucifer  with  Judas 
set  us  down. 


128  DANTE 

Such  was  the  wonderful  manner  of  their  descent 
to  the  ninth  and  last  circle  of  Hell. 

CANTOS   XXXII,    XXXIH   AND  XXXIV 

The  ninth  circle  and  the  first  two  rings  of  the 
Pit;  a  place  which  slopes  inward  from  all  sides 
to  a  point,  the  apex  of  Hell,  and  the  center  of  the 
Earth.  The  sloping  floor  is  ice,  and  by  this  the 
various  sinners  are  more  or  less  covered.  The 
whole  area  is  divided  into  four  concentric  rings, 
only  to  be  recognized  from  one  another  by  the  in- 
creasing severity  of  their  punishments.  This  is  the 
place  of  those  who  in  committing  fraud  broke  some 
special  tie  or  bond.  Canto  XXXH  deals  with  the 
first  two  circles ;  Caina,  where  traitors  to  their  kin, 
and  Antenora,  where  traitors  to  their  country, 
suffer. 

To  describe  the  bottom  of  the  whole  universe  is 
no  task  to  undertake  in  jest,  nor  one  for  a  tongue 
that  cries  mamma  and  papa. 

A  little  later  Dante  apostrophizes  the  treacherous 
spirits  of  the  Pit. 

O  you,  more  than  all  others,  born  in  an  evil  hour, 
who  are  in  the  place  so  difficult  to  picture,  better  had 
it  been  for  you  if  in  the  world  you  had  been  sheep 
and  goats! 


DANTE  129 

When  we  had  reached  the  dark  chasm  beneath 
the  feet  of  the  giants,  much  lower  down,  and  I  was 
still  gazing  at  the  lofty  wall,  I  heard : 

"Be  careful  how  you  step;  walk  so  that  you  will 
not  trample  under  foot  the  heads  of  your  miserable 
weary  brothers." 

At  this  I  turned  and  saw  before  me,  and  beneath 
my  feet,  a  lake  which,  because  of  the  cold,  had  the 
appearance  of  glass  and  not  of  water.* 

Here,  neck-high  in  the  ice  of  Caina,  Dante  sees 
traitors,  murderers  of  kin,  and  fratricides. 

Every  one  held  his  face  turned  downward.  At 
the  mouth  the  cold  gives  proof,*  and  sadness  of 
heart,  at  the  eyes. 

I  saw  a  thousand  faces  by  the  cold  made  to  show 
what  it  really  means  to  grin  and  bear,  because  of 
which  I  shudder,  and  shall  always  at  the  sight  of 
frozen  pools.' 

And  while  we  were  moving  toward  the  center  to 
which  all  gravity  collects,  and  I  was  shivering  in 
the  eternal  chill,  whether  it  was  the  will  of  Heaven, 
or  destiny,  or  fortune,  I  do  not  know,  but  walking 


*  The  ice  is  significant  of  the  cold-hearted  nature  of  treach- 
ery. 

*The  chattering  of  their  teeth  shows  how  cold,  and  thdr 
tears  how  wretched  they  are. 

•A  remarkable  instance  of  Dante's  realism. 


130  DANTE 

among  the  heads,  I  struck  my  foot  full  in  the  face 
of  one.    Wailing,  he*  upbraided  me : 

SHADE 

"Why  do  you  kick  me?  If  you  come  not  to  in- 
crease the  vengeance  of  Mont'Aperti,  why  molest 
me?" 

DANTE 

"Master,  wait  for  me  here,  so  that  this  spirit  may 
dispel  a  doubt  I  have.  Afterward  you  shall  hurry 
as  much  as  you  like." 

My  guide  stopped,  and  I  said  to  the  shade,  still 
bitterly  blaspheming: 

"Who  are  you  to  rebuke  another?" 

SHADE 

"Now  who  are  you  that  goes  through  Antenora, 
striking  the  cheeks  of  others  so  that  if  you  were 
alive  it  would  pass  endurance  ?" 

DANTE 

"I  am  alive,  and  it  may  be  dear  to  you,  if  you 
insist  on  fame,  that  I  set  your  name  among  my 
other  verses." 


*  Bocca  degli  Abati,  the  basest  of  traitors  of  Florence,  at  the 
battle  of  Mont'Aperti,  1260,  cut  off  the  hand  of  the  standard 
bearer  and  so  brought  about  the  rout  and  destruction  of  the 
Florentines. 


DANTE  131 


SHADE 


"My  wish  is  for  the  opposite.  Take  yourself  off 
and  trouble  me  no  more,  for  you  little  know  how  to 
flatter  in  this  place." 

Thereupon  I  seized  him  by  the  hair  on  the  hack  of 
his  head,  and  said  : 

"You  shall  tell  me  your  name,  else  I  will  not  leave 
a  hair  upon  you." 

SHADE 

"Though  you  strip  me  of  hair  I  will  not  tell  you 
who  I  am,  or  let  you  find  out,  though  you  strike 
your  foot  against  my  head  a  thousand  times." 

I  had  already  twisted  his  hair,  and  had  pulled  out 
more  than  one  lock,  he  barking  and  holding  his  eyes 
steadily  down,  when  another  shade  snarled  out: 

"What  ails  you,  Bocca  ?  Is  it  not  enough  to  chat- 
ter your  teeth,  but  you  must  bark  too  ?  What  devil 
is  at  you  ?" 

DANTE 

"Speak  not,  accursed  traitor,  for  to  your  shame 
will  I  take  true  news  of  you  to  Earth." 


132  DANTE 

BOCCA 

"Be  gone  now,  and  tell  what  you  will,  but  be  not 
silent,  if  ever  you  go  forth  from  this  place,  con- 
cerning him  whose  tongue  tattled  so  readily.  He 
here  laments  the  silver  of  the  French."  You  can  say, 
*I  saw  him  of  Duera  among  the  sinners  in  the 
cold.' " 

We  had  just  left  this  one  when  I  caught  sight  of 
two  shades  frozen  in  one  hole  so  that  the  head  of 
one  of  them  overlapped  that  of  the  other.  As  bread 
is  devoured  in  hunger,  so  the  upper  set  his  teeth 
upon  the  lower,  there  where  brain  and  nape  join. 

DANTE 

"O  you,  who,  like  the  beasts,  show  such  hatred 
for  him  whom  you  are  eating,  tell  me  the  reason, 
and  on  this  condition,  that  if  you  have  just  cause 
against  him,  knowing  who  you  are,  and  his  sin,  I 
may  yet  make  you  even  with  him  in  the  upper  world, 
provided  I  live  to  tell  the  tale." 

The  story  which  follows  is  that  of  Count  Ugo- 
lino,  probably  the  most  famous  single  story  in  The 

"Buoso  da  Duera,  a  traitor  who  took  bribes  from  the 
French  in  1265,  and  therefore  allowed  their  army  to  proceed 
through  Italy  on  its  way  to  the  conquest  of  the  kingdom  of 
Naples. 


DANTE  133 

Divine  Comedy.  It  relates  the  history  of  men  who, 
for  private  ends,  turned  traitors  to  their  country, 
and  of  friends  who,  for  personal  aggrandizement, 
turned  treacherously  against  one  another. 

From  his  savage  meal  that  sinner  lifted  his 
mouth  wiping  it  with  hair  he  had  torn  from  the 
back  of  the  other's  head.    Then  he  began : 

"You  ask  me  to  renew  a  desperate  sorrow,  the 
mere  thought  of  which  bows  down  my  heart  before 
I  have  said  a  single  word.  But,  if  what  I  say  shall 
be  the  seed  that  may  bear  fruit  of  infamy  for  the 
traitor  whom  I  gnaw,  you  shall  see  me  speak  and 
weep  together.  I  do  not  know  who  you  are,  or  how 
you  have  come  down  here,  but  by  your  speech  you 
surely  are  a  Florentine.  Know  then  that  I  was 
Count  Ugolino,  and  this  other  the  Archbishop  Rug- 
gieri.  Now  I  will  tell  you  why  I  am  so  hostile  a 
neighbor.  There  is  no  need  to  tell  how,  as  result  of 
his  malicious  thoughts,  I,  putting  my  trust  in  him, 
was  seized  and  killed.  But  what  you  can  not  have 
heard,  namely,  how  cruel  my  death  was,  that  you 
shall  hear,  and  then  shall  you  judge  if  he  has  done 
me  wrong. 

"A  narrow  opening  in  the  prison  which,  from  me, 
gets  the  name  of  Famine,  and  in  which  others  must 
yet  be  shut  up,  had  already  shown  me  many  moons 
before  I  had  the  bad  dream  which  rent  for  me  the 
veil  of  the  future. 


.134*  PANTE 

"This  one  appeared  to  be  leader  of  the  hunt,  pur- 
suing the  wolf  and  his  whelps  upon  the  mountain 
which  prevents  the  Pisans  seeing  Lucca.  With  lean, 
eager,  and  well-trained  hounds  he  had  set  in  front 
of  him  the  Gualandi,  Sismondi,  and  Lanfranchi." 
After  a  short  chase  the  father  and  his  sons  seemed 
weary  and  I  thought  I  saw  their  flanks  ripped  by 
the  hounds'  sharp  fangs. 

"When  I  woke  before  dawn  next  day,  I  heard  my 
sons,  who  were  with  me,  wailing  in  their  sleep,  and 
asking  for  bread.  Truly  you  are  hard  if  already 
you  do  not  grieve  at  the  thought  of  that  which  my 
heart  foresaw.  If  you  do  not  shed  tears  at  this,  for 
what  are  you  in  the  habit  of  weeping?  They  were 
now  awake  and  the  time  was  drawing  near  when 
food  used  to  be  brought  to  us,  and  because  of  his 
dream  each  was  fearful.  Down  below  I  heard  the 
door  of  the  horrible  tower  being  nailed  up."^     At 


'Three  important  Pisan  families. 

"The  only  parallel  to  this  in  English  is  the  "knocking"  in 
Macbeth,  the  effect  of  which  De  Quincey,  in  his  essay,  The 
Knocking  at  the  Gate,  has  analyzed  with  extraordinary  deli- 
cacy of  perception  and  understanding.  It  deals  with  the 
speech  {Macbeth,  Act  ii,  Sc.  2).  "Whence  is  that  knocking? 
How  is't  with  me,  when  every  noise  appals  me?" 

What  De  Quincey  says  of  the  structure  of  a  great  work  of 
poetry  as  reflecting  the  structure  and  character  of  a  great 
poet's  mind,  in  Shakespeare's  case,  is  equally  applicable  to 
Dante's. 

^  "O  Mighty  Poet  I  Thy  works  are  not  as  those  of  other  men, 
simply  and  merely  great  works  of  art;  but  are  also  like  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  like  the  sun  and  the  sea,  the  stars  and  the 
flowers,  like  frost  and  snow,  rain,  dew,  hail-storm  and  thunder 
which  are  to  be  studied  with  entire  submission  of  our  own 


dante;"  :i3s; 

this  I  looked  on  the  faces  of  my  sons,  but  said  never 
a  word,  I  could  not  weep,  I  was  so  turned  to  stone. 
They  wept,  and  my  poor  little  Anselm  said,  'You 
stare  so,  father,  what  ails  you?'  I  did  not  shed  a 
tear  for  this,  nor  did  I  answer  all  that  day,  nor  the 
following  night,  nor  until  the  next  sun  was  rising. 
When  a  slender  beam  found  its  way  into  our  sad 
dungeon  I  learned  from  their  four  faces  what  my 
own  appearance  was.  I  bit  my  hands  in  misery,  and 
they,  thinking  that  I  did  so  through  desire  of  eating, 
suddenly  raised  themselves  up,  and  said:  'Father, 
it  will  be  far  less  pain  to  us  if  you  eat  of  us ;  you  did 
clothe  us  with  this  wretched  flesh,  and  do  you  strip 
it  off.*  I  quieted  them,  not  to  make  them  more  sad. 
That  day  and  the  next  we  all  stayed  dumb.  Ah! 
cruel  Earth !  why  did  you  not  open  ?  After  the  fourth 
day  Gaddo  threw  himself  stretched  out  at  my  feet,i 
crying :  *My  father,  why  do  you  not  help  me  ?*  Here 
he  died,  and,  as  you  see  me,  I  saw  the  other  three 
fall,  one  after  another,  between  the  fifth  day  and 
the  sixth.  Then  I,  already  blind,  began  groping 
over  them,  and  for  two  days  after  they  were  dead 
I  called  them.  Then  hunger  did  for  me  what  sor- 
row could  not  do." 

When  he  had  finished,  with  eyes  askance,  he  again 

faculties,  and  in  the  perfect  faith  that  in  them  there  can  be  no 
too  much  or  too  little,  nothing  useless  or  inert,  the  further  we 
press  in  our  discoveries,  the  more  we  shall  see  proofs  of  de- 
sign and  self-supporting  argument  where  the  careless  eye  had 
$een  nothing  but  accident. 


136  DANTE 

seized  the  wretched  skull  with  his  teeth,  that  were 
strong  like  a  dog's  upon  a  bone. 

Ah,  Pisa !  disgrace  to  the  people  of  the  fair  coun- 
try where  sounds  the  si  1'  Since  your  neighbors  are 
slow  to  punish  you,  may  Caprara  and  Gorgona' 
move  landward,  and  dike  Arno's  mouth  so  that 
every  person  in  you  shall  be  drowned.  For  even 
if  Count  Ugolino  was  reported  to  have  betrayed  you 
in  your  strongholds  you  were  not  justified  in  so  tor- 
turing his  sons. 

CANTO   XXXIV 

The  scene  is  laid  in  the  fourth  ring  of  the  Pit, 
the  very  bottom  of  Hell,  called  Judecca  after  Judas 
Iscariot,  arch-traitor.  With  the  betrayer  of  Christ 
are  also  Brutus  and  Cassius,  the  betrayers  of  Julius 
Caesar,  who  was  the  founder  of  that  Empire 
which  was  divinely  appointed  for  the  earthly 
dwelling  of  the  Church.  With  them,  and  torment- 
ing them,  at  the  apex  of  Hell,  is  Lucifer,  rebel 
angel,  traitor  to  God.  When  Virgil  and  Dante  pass 
the  center  of  gravity,  which  is  in  the  center  of  Lu- 
cifer's body,  they  begin  their  ascent  from  Hell,  go- 
ing in  the  opposite  direction  to  that  of  their  descent, 
and  so  ultimately  emerging  in  the  upper  air,  and  the 
southern  hemisphere. 

"  Dante  means  the  common  language  of  Italy  in  which  si  is 
the  word  for  yes. 

"  Islands  lying  a  little  way  from  the  mouth  of  the  Arno,  on 
whose  banks  Pisa  is  located. 


DANTE  J3Z 

VIRGIL 

"Vexilla  regis  prodeunt  infernV'  toward  us; 
therefore  look  forward.  Seek  to  discern  him  if  you 
can."  \ 

As  a  distant  windmill  appears  in  dense  fog,  or 
at  the  hour  when  the  heavens  are  darkening  to 
night,  such  the  thing  that  I  saw  there  looked  to  me. 

Because  of  the  wind,  I  got  behind  my  leader. 
There  was  no  other  shelter.  I  was  now,  with  fear 
and  trembling  do  I  put  it  into  verse,  there  where  the 
shades  were  altogether  covered,  and  only  showed 
through  like  straws  in  glass.  Some  lie  down ;  some 
are  erect,  this  one  with  his  head,  that  one  with  his 
soles  uppermost.  Another,  bow-like,  bends  his  face 
to  his  feet. 

When  we  had  advanced  so  far  that  it  pleased  my 
master  to  show  me  the  creature  which  had  the  fair 
semblance,  he  moved  from  in  front  of  me,  saying: 

''Behold,  Dis !  Behold  the  place  where  you  must 
put  on  fortitude !"  ' 

Ask  not  how  cold  and  weak  I  became,  for  I  do 
not  write  it,  because  no  words  can  tell  it.  I  did  not 
die,  nor  did  I  remain  alive.  Picture  to  yourself,  if 
you  have  aught  of  wit,  what  I  became,  deprived, 
alike  of  life  and  death. 

The  emperor  of  the  realms  of  woe  rose  above  the 


*  "The  banners  of  the  King"  of  Hell  "advance."  These  are 
|he  opening  words  of  a  hymn  in  honor  of  the  Cross. 


138  DANTE 

ice  from  the  middle  of  his  breast  up.  I  approach 
nearer  to  the  stature  of  a  giant,  than  giants  to  the 
size  of  his  arms.  Learn  from  this  how  vast  must 
be  the  whole  which  is  in  proportion  to  such  parts. 
If  he  was  once  as  fair  as  he  now  is  foul,  and  lifted 
up  his  brows  against  his  Maker  well  may  he  have 
been  the  cause  of  all  tribulation.  Oh!  how  great  a 
marvel  it  was  to  me  that  his  head  had  three  faces! 
The  one  in  front  was  crimson  red.  The  other  two 
met  this  just  over  the  middle  of  each  shoulder.  The 
three  came  together  at  the  crown  of  his  head.  The 
right-hand  face  was  sallow;  the  left,  black,  like  the 
faces  of  those  who  come  from  the  land  of  the  Nile. 
Below  each  a  pair  of  great  wings  protruded,  in  size 
proper  for  so  huge  a  bird.  Sails  of  the  sea  never 
saw  I  such.  They  had  no  feathers,  but  were  built 
after  the  manner  of  the  wings  of  bats.  He  was 
flapping  them  so  that  three  winds  issued  from  him. 
By  these,  all  Cocytus^  was  frozen.  With  his  six 
eyes  he  was  weeping,  and  down  over  his  three  chins 
ran  tears  and  bloody  drivel.  At  each  mouth  he  was 
crunching  a  sinner  with  his  teeth,  so  that  he  was 
putting  three  of  them  to  torment.  To  the  sinner  in 
front'  the  biting  was  nothing  in  comparison  with 
the  clawing,  whereby  sometimes  his  back  would  be 
completely  stripped  of  skin. 


*Coc3^us,  one  of  the  rivers  of  Hell,  whose  waters,  frozen, 
form  the  ice  of  the  Pit 
•Judas  Iscariot. 


DANTE  *  139 

VIRGIL 

"That  one  up  there  who  is  suffering  the  greatest 
agony  is  Judas  Iscariot ;  he  who  has  his  head  within, 
and  legs  writhing  outside.  Of  the  other  two  whose 
heads  hang  down,  he  who  dangles  from  the  black 
mouth  is  Brutus.  Cassius  is  the  other.  But  night 
is  again  returning  to  the  Earth  and  we  must  go,  for 
we  have  seen  the  whole." 

As  he  bade  me,  I  put  my  arms  about  his  neck, 
and  he  took  advantage  of  time  and  place  to  catch 
hold  on  the  hairy  flank  of  Lucifer  at  a  moment 
when  his  wings  were  spread  wide  apart.  Down 
from  shock  to  shock  between  matted  hair  and 
frozen  scabs  he  picked  his  way.  When  we  came  to 
the  thigh,  just  where  the  haunch  is  thickest,  my 
leader,  with  effort,  and  short  breaths,  turned  his 
head  to  where  his  legs  had  been  and  gripped  the 
hair,  as  one  does  in  climbing,  so  that  I  thought  we 
were  returning  to  Hell. 

VIRGIL 

"Hold  tight,  for  by  such  stairs  must  we  depart 
from  so  great  evil." 

At  length  he  came  forth  through  a  cleft  in  the 
rock,  and  put  me  down  to  sit  upon  its  edge. 

Dante  and  Virgil  have  now  passed  the  center  of 
gravity  and  are  arrived  in  the  southern  hemisphere. 


140  DANTE 

In  this  change  from  the  northern  hemisphere  to  the 
southern,  there  is  a  corresponding  change  in  time 
amounting  to  twelve  hours.  They  will  now  spend 
about  as  long  a  period,  twenty-four  hours,  in  climb- 
ing to  the  surface  of  the  Earth,  as  they  have  in  de- 
scending from  the  surface  of  the  northern  hemis- 
phere to  the  point  of  Hell,  or  center  of  the  universe. 

VIRGIL 

"Get  to  your  feet,  the  way  is  long  and  the  road  is 

difficult.'* 

My  leader  and  I  at  once  set  forth  on  the  hidden 
path  to  return  to  the  world  of  light.  Without 
thought  of  resting  we  mounted  up,  he  first,  and  I 
after  him,  far  enough  for  me  to  see  through  a  round 
opening  some  of  the  beautiful  things  of  Heaven,  and 
thence  we  came  out,  and  again  beheld  the  stars.* 

*  These  were  the  morning  stars,  and  the  time  was  close 
upon  five  o'clock  Easter  morning.  The  stars,  in  themselves 
regarded  by  Dante  as  objects  of  extremest  beauty,  and  con- 
stantly dwelt  on,  were  also  for  him  the  instigators  of  hope 
and  agents  of  inspiration.  With  the  word  stelle^  stars,  he 
ends  each  of  the  three  parts  of  The  Divine  Comedy, 


"Never  was  the  very  essence  of  vice  so  revealed  as  in  the 
Inferno,  where  the  poet,  as  with  a  scalpel,  lays  bare  the  secret 
motives  of  remembered  and  forgotten  tragedies,  anatomizing 
sinner  after  sinner  to  find  'the  cause  in  nature  that  makes 
tliese  hard  hearts.' " — Gakdner. 


PURGATORY 


CANTOS    I    AND    II 


CANTO    I 


A  low,  beach-like  shore,  which  girdles  the  moun- 
tain of  Purgatory,  and  separates  it  from  the  sea. 


Eoythly 


PURGATORY 


It  is  here,  about  an  hour  before  sunrise,  on  Easter 
morning,  that  Dante  and  Virgil  find  themselves  after 
emerging  from  the  underworld. 

141 


142  DANTE 

To  sail  over  better  waters  the  little  vessel  of  my 
genius  now  hoists  her  sails,  leaving  behind  her  so 
cruel  a  sea.  I  will  now  sing  of  the  second  realm, 
where  the  spirit  of  man  is  purified  and  made  fit  to 
ascend  to  Heaven. 

A  lovely  tinge  of  sapphire  was  brightening  on  the 
tranquil  face  of  Heaven,  even  to  the  horizon.  It 
brought  back  delight  to  my  eyes  as  soon  as  I  came 
out  from  the  dead  air  which  had  distressed  both  my 
seeing  and  my  breathing.  The  fair  planet  which 
moves  men  to  love^  was  making  the  whole  eastern 
sky  to  smile,  veiling  the  fishes  that  were  in  her  train. 
I  turned  to  the  right,  and  saw  four  stars^  never  seen 
save  by  the  first  people."  The  Heavens  appeared  to 
rejoice  in  their  light.  O  northern  region,  widowed 
because  deprived  of  seeing  them! 

When  I  had  withdrawn  my  gaze  from  these, 
turning  a  little  toward  the  north  pole,  from  which 
the  Great  Bear  had  already  vanished,  I  saw  close 
by  me  a  solitary  old  man  in  aspect  worthy  of  so 
much  reverence  that  no  son  can  owe  more  to  his 
father.  He  had  a  long  beard,  whitened  like  his 
hair,  which  fell  in  two  sweeps  upon  his  breast.  The 
rays  of  the  four  holy  stars  so  lit  up  his  countenance 
that  I  saw  him  as  I  should,  had  he  been  facing  the 
sun. 


*  Venus  at  the  Spring  Equinox  is  in  the  sign  of  Pisces. 
'These  signify  the  cardinal  virtues,  Prudence,  Temperance^ 
Fortitude  and  Justice. 
•Adam  and  Eve. 


DANTE  143 

"Who  are  you  that  counter  to  the  dark  stream 
have  escaped  the  eternal  prison  ?"  said  he,  his  vener- 
able locks  swaying. 

"Who  has  guided  you?  Or  who  was  a  lamp  to 
light  your  way  out  of  that  black  night  which  for- 
ever darkens  the  infernal  valley.  Are  the  laws  of 
the  abyss  broken?  Or  is  there  a  new  decree  in 
Heaven, that, being  damned, you  come  to  my  rocks?" 

Thereupon  my  guide  took  hold  of  me,  and  with 
words,  hands,  signs,  made  me  bend  my  knees  and 
incline  my  brow.    Then  he  answered  him : 

"I  came  not  of  my  own  accord,  but  because  of  a 
lady,  descended  from  Heaven,  in  reply  to  whose 
prayers  I  offered  myself  to  this  one  as  guide.  But 
since  you  desire  to  know  of  the  real  nature  of  our 
condition,  it  is  not  my  wish  to  deny  it.  This  man 
has  not  yet  seen  his  last  evening,  but  because  of  his 
folly  he  was  so  near  to  it  that  short  time  remained 
for  change.  As  I  have  told  you,  I  was  sent  to  rescue 
him,  and  there  was  no  other  course  to  follow  but  the 
one  I  have  followed.  I  have  shown  him  the  guilty 
people,  all ;  and  now  I  mean  to  show  him  those  souls 
who,  under  your  jurisdiction,  cleanse  them  of  their 
sins.  How  I  have  brought  him  so  far  would  be  a  long 
story.  From  on  high  I  received  the  power  to  guide 
him  to  this  place  where  he  can  see  and  hear  you.  May 
it  please  you  to  look  graciously  upon  his  coming. 
He  goes  in  search  of  liberty,*  the  value  of  which  is 

*"The  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God."    Romans 
vm  :21. 


.144  DANTE 

known  to  him  who  gives  his  life  for  it.  You"  know 
this,  since  for  the  sake  of  it  you  did  not  find  death 
bitter  when,  in  Utica,  you  cast  off  that  mortal  ves- 
ture which  shall  indeed  shine  at  the  Resurrection. 
The  everlasting  laws  are  not  broken  for  us.  This 
man  is  alive,  and  Minos  does  not  control  me.®  I 
am  from  the  circle  where  are  the  chaste  eyes  of  your 
Marcia,  who,  by  her  looks,  still  beseeches  you  to  hold 
her  for  your  own.  By  the  love  you  have  for  her 
incline  your  heart  to  us;  suffer  us  to  proceed 
through  your  sevenfold  domain.'  I  will  report 
your  goodness  to  her,  if  you  will  condescend  to  be 
mentioned  there  below.*' 

CATO 

"While  I  lived  Marcia  was  so  pleasant  to  my  eyes 
that  I  granted  every  favor  she  desired.  Now  that 
her  dwelling  place  is  on  the  far  side  of  the  evil 
stream,®  in  conformity  with  that  law  which  was 
made  when  I  came  forth  from  Hell,  she  can  no 
longer  move  me.®    But  if,  as  you  say,  a  lady  from 

"This  is  Cato,  the  younger,  who  took  his  own  life  rather 
than  lose  his  Hberty. 

•  Virgil's  place  in  Hell  is  the  first  circle,  Limbo,  while  Minos 
holds  control  from  the  second  circle  down. 

*The  seven  circles  of  Purgatory. 

'Acheron,  the  river  which  encircles  Hell. 

•The  redeemed  can  not  be  concerned  with  the  condition  of 
the  lost,  no  matter  what  the  earthly  relations  between  the  two 
may  have  been,  for  to  be  sorry  for  the  damned  would  be 
equivalent  to  regretting  the  justice,  and  doubting  the  good- 
ness of  God,  and  to  do  this  would  be  inconsistent  with  thq 


DANTE  145 

Heaven  sent  you,  you  have  no  call  for  persuasive 
words.  It  is  enough  that  in  her  name  you  ask  my 
aid.  Go  your  way,  and  see  to  it  that  you  gird  this 
man  with  a  smooth  rush,  and  that  you  wash  his 
face  clean  of  all  grime,  for  it  is  not  becoming  to 
present  one's  self  before  the  first  of  the  Ministers  of 
Paradise  with  eyes  dimmed  by  any  veil.  Around 
the  margin,  down  yonder  where  the  waves  break 
upon  it,  the  soft  mud  of  this  little  island  bears 
rushes.  No  other  plant  that  puts  forth  leaves  or 
makes  stems  can  live  there  because  no  other  can 
bend  with  the  waves.  When  you  have  done  as  I 
bid  you,  return  no  more  this  way.  The  sun  which 
is  just  rising  will  show  you  how  to  take  the  moun- 
tain by  an  easier  ascent." 

Cato  departs  and  Virgil  and  Dante  go  down  to 
the  shore. 

My  master  spread  his  hands  gently  on  the  grass 
whereat  I,  who  understood  his  purpose,  stretched 
my  tear-stained  cheeks  toward  him.  He  washed 
clean  the  color  of  my  face  which  Hell  had  covered 
up.  Then  we  went  down  to  that  barren  strand 
which  never  knew  man  return  after  setting  sail  upon 
its  waters.  Here  he  girt  me  even  as  Cato  had 
directed. 


state  of  the  redeemed,  which  state  is  one  of  perfect  accord 
witli  the  will  of  God. 


146  DANTE 

CANTO   II 

We  were  lingering  on  the  shore  like  people  think- 
ing of  their  road,  in  heart  going  forward,  but  in 
body  moving  not  at  all. 

And  lo  I  as  when,  upon  the  approach  of  morning,* 
Through  the  gross  vapours  Mars  grows  fiery  red 
Down  in  the  West  upon  the  ocean  floor. 

Appeared  to  me — may  I  again  behold  it! — 
A  Hght  along  the  sea  so  swiftly  coming. 
Its  motion  by  no  flight  of  wing  is  equalled ; 

From  which  when  I  a  little  had  withdrawn 
Mine  eyes,  that  I  might  question  my  Conductor, 
Again  I  saw  it  brighter  grown  and  larger. 

Then  on  each  side  of  it  appeared  to  me 
I  knew  not  what  of  white,  and  underneath  it 
Little  by  little  there  came  forth  another. 

My  Master  yet  had  uttered  not  a  word 
While  the  first  whiteness  into  wings  unfolded ; 
But  when  he  clearly  recognized  the  pilot. 

He  cried  :  "Make  haste,  make  haste  to  bow  the  knee ! 
Behold  the  Angel  of  God!  fold  thou  thy  hands  1 
Henceforward  shalt  thou  see  such  officers  1 

See  how  he  scorneth  human  arguments, 
So  that  nor  oar  he  wants,  nor  other  sail 
Than  his  own  wings,  between  so  distant  shores. 

See  how  he  holds  them  pointed  up  to  heaven, 
Fanning  the  air  with  the  eternal  pinions, 
That  do  not  moult  themselves  like  mortal  hair  1" 

Then  as  still  nearer  and  more  near  us  came 
The  Bird  Divine,  more  radiant  he  appeared. 
So  that,  near  by  the  eye  could  not  endure  him, 

But  down  I  cast  it ;  and  he  came  to  shore 
With  a  small  vessel,  very  swift  and  light. 
So  that  the  water  swallowed  naught  thereof. 

Upon  the  stern  stood  the  Celestial  Pilot; 
Beatitude  seemed  written  in  his  face, 
And  more  than  a  hundred  spirits  sat  within. 


^Tliis  lovely  translation  of  the  description  of  the  sunrise, 
and  the  angel-steered  boat,  bringing  and  landing  the  souls  of 
the  saved  upon  the  beach  at  the  foot  of  Purgatory,  is  Long- 
fellow's. 


DANTE  147, 

"In  exitu  Israel  de  Aegj'pto  !"2 

They  chanted  all  together  in  one  voice, 

With  whatso  in  that  psalm  is  after  written. 
Then  made  he  sign  of  holy  rood^  upon  them, 

Whereat  all  cast  themselves  upon  the  shore, 

And  he  departed  swiftly  as  he  came. 

The  new-landed  souls,  being  strange  to  the  place, 
ask  guidance  of  Dante  and  Virgil.  Virgil  tells  them 
that  he  and  his  companion  have  likewise  just  ar- 
rived, though  by  another  way,  i.  e.,  from  Hell,  and 
not,  as  the  shaded  of  the  redeemed,  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Tiber,  where,  at  death,  they  gather. 

I  saw  one  of  them  come  forward  to  embrace  me 
with  such  great  affection  that  it  moved  me  to  do  the 
like.  O  shades,  empty  save  in  appearance!  Thrice 
did  I  throw  my  arms  about  him,  and  as  often  did 
they  return  upon  my  own  breast.  With  astonish- 
ment my  countenance  changed,  whereat  the  shade 
smiled,  and  drew  back,  and  I,  pursuing  it,  pressed 
forward.  Gently  he  bade  me  pause.  I  then  realized 
who  he*  was,  and  I  besought  him  to  stay  a  little  and 
to  talk  with  me.    He  answered : 


*  Psalm  cxiv.  "When  Israel  went  up  out  of  Egypt."  Its 
appropriateness  in  this  place  is  dependent  upon  tlie  spiritual 
significance  of  going  from  a  state  of  corruption  to  the  free- 
dom of  eternal  glory. 

*  Holy  Cross. 

*  Casella  was  a  musician  and  a  friend  of  Dante's.  Rarely 
has  the  essence  of  friendship,  that  "peculiar  boon  of  Heaven," 
been  so  adequately  and  touchingly  clothed  in  words,  as  in 
this  passage. 


148  DANTE 

"Even  as  I  loved  you  in  the  mortal  body,  so,  out 
of  it,  I  love  you  still.  That  is  why  I  stop.  But 
wherefore  do  you  take  this  journey  ?" 

"My  Casella,"*  I  replied,  "in  order  that  I  may 
again  return  to  where  I  now  am.  But,  tell  me,  how 
is  it  that  you  have  lost  so  much  time  ?"" 

CASELLA 

"No  wrong  has  been  done  me  if  he"  who  takes 
both  when,  and  whom,  he  pleases,  has  many  times 
denied  me  passage :  for  on  a  righteous  will  his  will 
depends." 

DANTE 

"If  a  new  rule'  has  not  deprived  you  of  the  mem- 
ory or  the  practise  of  that  song  of  love  with  which, 
in  times  gone  by,  you  quieted  all  my  longings,  may  it 
please  you  therewith  to  comfort  now  my  soul  which, 
coming  hither  with  its  body,  is  so  very  weary." 

"Love  which  in  my  heart  discourseth  with  me," 
he  then  began  so  sweetly,  that  the  sweetness  yet 
stays  with  me.®    My  master,  and  the  throng  that 

•  Dante  expresses  surprise  that  Casella  has  not,  in  the  time 
since  his  death,  gone  farther. 

'  The  celestial  pilot. 

*  Conditions  different  from  those  of  Earth. 

'  Casella  begins  to  sing  a  verse  of  Dante's  own  early  writing 
which,  probably,  he  had  set  to  music.  The  gentleness  and 
affection  implied  in  Casella's  choice  of  this  song  is  equaled  by 
the  intense  delight  which  Dante  has  just  said  was  formerly 
his,  when  sung  to  by  his  friend  on  earth. 


DANTE  149 

stood  about,  appeared  so  charmed  that  nothing  else 
could  get  the  attention  of  any  one  of  them. 

None  stirred,  and  all  of  us  were  rapt  by  his 
strains;  when  suddenly,  the  venerable  old  man 
cried : 

"What  means  it,  laggard  spirits?  What  negli- 
gence is  this,  and  why  this  halting?  Make  haste  to 
the  mountain  in  order  to  strip  off  the  veil  which 
keeps  you  from  seeing  God."° 

CANTOS   III   TO   IX 

Various  parts  of  the  region  outside  the  Gate  of 
Purgatory.    This  region  is  called  Ante-Purgatory. 

The  spirits  of  those  who  put  off  repentance  until 
the  end  of  their  lives  are  detained  here.  There  are 
four  distinct  classes  of  them.  First,  those  who  be- 
came penitent  at  the  hour  of  death,  but  died  under 
ban  of  the  Church.  Second,  those  who  from 
mere  indolence  put  off  repenting.  Third,  those  who 
repented  at  the  instant  of  being  overtaken  by  violent 
death.  Fourth,  kings  and  princes  who  deferred  re- 
pentance because  of  the  cares  of  state. 

The  first  of  these  four  classes  is  compelled  to 
wait  in  Ante-Purgatory  for  a  period  thirty  times  as 
long  as  on  Earth  they  persisted  in  an  unrepentant 
state.  The  other  three  are  detained  for  a  time  equal 
to  the  length  of  their  earthly  lives.     In  every  case 

*  Sin  dims  or  veils  man's  eyes  to  the  vision  of  God. 


150'  DANTE 

the  time  may  be  cut  short  by  the  prayers  of  the 
living. 

CANTO   III 

Dante  and  Virgil  meet  a  company  of  shades,  and 
Virgil  asks  them  the  way.  One  of  them,  speaking 
to  Dante,  says : 

"Wlioever  you  are,  turn  your  face  toward  me  as 
you  go.  Think,  if  you  did  ever  see  me  in  the 
world?" 

I  turned  to  him,  and  looked  steadfastly.  He  was 
blond  and  beautiful,  and  of  gentle  look,  but  a  blow 
had  severed  one  of  his  eyebrows. 

When  I  humbly  disclaimed  ever  having  seen  him, 
he  said : 

"Now  look!" 
and  showed  me  a  wound  above  his  breast.    Then, 
smiling: 

*T  am  Manfred,^  grandson  of  the  Empress  Con- 
stance, wherefore  I  entreat  you  upon  your  return, 
go  to  my  fair  daughter,  parent  of  the  glory  of  Sicily 
and  Aragon,  and  tell  her  the  truth,  if  other  than  the 


*  The  illegitimate  son  of  the  Emperor  Frederic  II,  who  was 
king  of  Sicily.  The  Papacy  was  hostile  to  him,  and  he  died, 
under  ban  of  excommunication,  at  the  battle  of  Benevento,  in 
1266.  He  desires  the  prayers  of  his  daughter  Constance  for 
the  lessening  of  the  time  before  he  can  enter  Purgatory 
proper,  and  the  ultimate  hastening  of  his  entry  into  Paradise. 


DANTE  151 

truth  be  told.  After  my  body  had  been  pierced  by 
two  mortal  stabs,  I,  weeping,  gave  myself  to  Him 
who  pardons  willingly.  My  sins  were  horrible,  but 
such  wide  arms  has  Infinite  Goodness  that  it  ac- 
cepts all  who  turn  to  it.  If  the  Pastor  of  Cosenza,* 
who  by  Clement  was  set  to  pursue  me,  had  read 
aright  this  page  of  God's  Word,  my  bones  would  still 
be  at  the  head  of  the  bridge  near  Benevento,  under 
the  heavy  pile  of  stones.  Now  the  rain  washes 
them,  and  the  wind  moves  them  beyond  the  king- 
dom, hard  by  the  Verde,  whither,  with  unlighted 
candles,  he  carried  them.  Through  curse  like  theirs 
man  is  not  so  lost  that  Eternal  Love  can  not  return 
so  long  as  hope  remains  the  least  speck  green.  It  is 
true  that  he  who  dies  insubordinate  to  Holy  Church, 
though  he  repent  at  the  last,  must  remain  outside, 
thirtyfold  the  whole  time  that  he  has  lived  in  his 
presumption,  if  such  decree  be  not  shortened  by 
good  prayers.  See  if,  hereafter,  you  can  speed  my 
happiness  by  revealing  to  my  good  Constance  that 
you  have  seen  me,  and  also  my  sentence,  for  in  this 
place  much  may  be  gained  by  the  prayers  of  those  on 
Earth." 


*The  Pope  ordered  the  Archbishop  of  Cosenza  to  disinter 
Manfred's  body,  and  leave  it  dishonored,  without  funeral 
rites,  unburied,  as  became  the  corpse  of  one  dying  under 
sentence  of  excommunication. 


152  DANTE 

CANTO   IV 

The  sun  had  climbed  full  fifty  degrees,  but  I 
had  not  noticed  it,  when  we  came  to  a  place  where 
the  shades,  with  one  voice,  cried  out  to  us : 

"Here  is  what  you  seek." 

When  grapes  grow  purple,  the  farm-hand  often 
fills  a  larger  gap  in  the  hedge,  with  a  forkful  of 
thorns,  than  the  passage  by  which  my  guide,  and  I 
following  him,  went  up,  after  the  troop  of  shades 
had  left  us.  We  ascended  through  the  cleft  rock, 
the  wall  pressing  close  on  either  side.  The  ground 
beneath  required  both  feet  and  hands. 

The  summit  was  so  lofty  that  it  reached  beyond 
my  sight,  and  the  slope  was  steeper  far  than  forty- 
five  degrees.    I  was  weary,  when  I  began : 

"O  gentle  father,  turn  and  see  how  I  shall  be  left 
alone,  if  you  do  not  wait  for  me." 

"My  son,"  said  he,  "drag  yourself  to  that  place," 
pointing  to  a  ledge  somewhat  higher  up,  which  on 
this  side  runs  round  the  entire  mountain.  So 
spurred  was  I  by  his  words  that  I  forced  myself 
forward,  scrambling  after  him  until  the  ledge  was 
reached.  There  we  both  sat  down,  turning  toward 
the  east,  whence  we  had  come  up,  for  to  look  back 
is  sure  to  encourage  a  climber. 

While  sitting  in  this  place  Dante  says : 

"If  it  pleases  you,  gladly  would  I  know  how  far 


DANTE  153 

we  have  to  go,  for  the  hill  rises  higher  than  my  eyes 
can  reach." 

VIRGIL 

"This  mountain  is  such*  that  always  at  the  be- 
ginning it  is  difficult,  but  the  higher  one  goes  the 
less  it  tires  him.  When  it  shall  seem  so  pleasant 
to  you  that  climbing  is  as  easy  as  going  down 
stream  in  a  boat,  then  will  you  be  at  the  end  of 
your  journey.  There  you  may  expect  to  cease  from 
toil.  More  I  do  not  answer.  This  much  I  know  to 
be  true." 

When  he  had  stopped  speaking  a  voice  near  by 
said: 

"Before  then,  perhaps,  you  will  be  compelled  to 
sit  down." 

Dante  now  discovers  the  shades  of  those,  who, 
through  indolence,  had  put  off  making  their  peace 
with  God,  seated  in  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock, 
heads  bent,  and  knees  clasped.  He  who  has  just 
spoken  turns  out  to  be  an  old  friend,  a  Florentine, 
reputed  the  laziest  man  who  ever  lived.  Dante  turns 
to  him  and  says : 

"I  shall  grieve  no  more''  for  you,  Belacqua,  but 
tell  me  why  you  are  sitting  here?    Do  you  wait  a 

*  This  is  an  allegorical  account  of  the  progfress  of  repentance 
which  at  the  beginning  is  hard,  but,  persevered  in,  grows 
easier. 

*  Dante  shows  his  own  temper  of  mind  in  the  humor  of  his 


154^  DANTE 

guide,  or  is  it  only  that  your  accustomed  sloth  has 
resumed  its  sway?" 

BELACQUA 

''Brother,  what's  the  use  of  going  up  ?  For  God's 
winged  angel  that  sits  at  the  gate  would  not  let  me 
pass  to  the  torments^  within.  It  is  necessary  first 
that  the  Heavens  shall  revolve  around  me  outside 
the  gate,  as  long  as  they  did  in  life,  because  I  put 
off  the  sighs  of  repentance  to  the  very  last.  Unless, 
sooner  than  this,  the  prayer  of  a  heart  that  lives  in 
grace,  rises  to  my  assistance,  what  help  can  come  of 
the  prayers  of  others,  for  they  are  not  heard  in 
Heaven?" 

CANTO   V 

Virgil  and  Dante  are  surrounded  by  a  large  com- 
pany of  shades,  of  whom  Virgil  says: 

"These  people  that  press  upon  us  are  many,  and 
they  come  to  make  a  request  of  you,  but  keep  on 
moving  all  the  same,  and  listen  as  you  go." 

SHADES 

"O  soul  that  in  the  flesh  to  which  you  were  bom, 
is  on  the  way  to  everlasting  joy,  tarry  a  little.  Look, 
if  ever  you  have  seen  any  one  of  us,  so  that  you  may 

relief  at  finding  his  friend  among  the  elect,  though,  for  indo- 
lence, "the  same  old  sixpence." 
•The  sufferings  to  be  undergone  in  Purgatory  proper. 


DANTE  155 

carry  tidings  of  him  back  to  Earth.  Why  do  you 
press  on?  Why  do  you  not  stop ?  Every  one  of  us 
was  slain  by  violence,  and  a  sinner  to  the  last  hour. 
Then  light  from  Heaven  made  us  take  thought  so 
that,  both  penitent  and  forgiving,  we  died  at  peace 
with  God,  Who  overwhelms  our  hearts  with  the  de- 
sire of  beholding  Him." 

DANTE 

"However  much  I  gaze  upon  your  faces  I  recog- 
nize no  one  of  you;  but  if  there  is  anything  that  I 
can  do  for  you,  spirits  elect,  say  what  it  may  be, 
and  I  will  do  it  for  the  sake  of  that  peace*  which, 
following  in  the  steps  of  such  a  guide,  causes  me  to 
seek  it  from  world  to  world." 

Dante  now  converses  with  these  souls.  One  of 
them  says : 

"Ah!  So  that  the  desire  may  be  fulfilled  which 
draws  you  to  the  high  mountain,  do  you,  with  gentle 
pity,  aid  the  fulfilment  of  my  wish.  I  was  of  Monte- 
feltro,  and  am  Buonconte.^    Joan,*  nor  any  other, 

*  The  peace  which  passeth  understanding. 

'Though  born  of  the  noble  family  of  Montefeltro,  like  all 
men,  he  ceases  after  death  to  hold  the  titles  of  this  world. 
He  is  now  just  Buonconte.  He  was  a  leader  of  the  Emperor's 
forces  at  the  battle  of  Campaldino,  in  1289.  The  swollen 
waters  pouring  down  from  the  Apennines  took  his  body  from 
the  place  where  he  had  fallen  in  his  flight,  the  confluence  of 
the  Archiano  and  the  Arno,  and  carried  it  down  stream. 

*BuoBconte's  wife. 


156  DANTE 


gives  a  thought  to  me.    That  is  why  I  move  among 
this  throng  with  downcast  countenance." 


DANTE 

"What  violence,  or  what  chance,  caused  you  to 
stray  so  far  from  Campaldino  that  your  burial  jjlace 
was  never  known?'* 

BUONCONTE 

"The  lower  Casentino  is  crossed  by  a  stream 
called  the  Archiano,  which  rises  in  the  Apennines 
above  the  Hermitage.  I  reached  the  place  where 
it  loses  its  name,^  stabbed  through  the  throat,  flee- 
ing on  foot,  bloodying  the  plain.  There  sight  failed 
me,  and  my  words  ended  with  the  name  of  Mary. 
There  I  sank  down,  and  my  body  remained  alone.  I 
will  tell  the  truth,  and  do  you  report  it  among  the 
living.  The  Angel  of  God  took  me,  and  one  from 
Hell  cried  out : 

"  *0  you  of  Heaven,  why  do  you  rob  me?  You 
carry  away  the  eternal  part  of  him  for  one  little 
tear*  that  snatches  him  from  me.  I  will  deal  in  a 
different  way  with  the  mortal  part."* 

"You  know  how  moist  vapor,  collecting  in  the 
air,  turns  to  water  when  it  rises  to  where  the  cold 


*  His  last  moment  was  repentant 
•His  body. 


DANTE  157 

condenses  it.  The  angel  from  Hell  joined  his  ma- 
licious will,  which  seeks  only  evil,  to  his  intelligence, 
and  stirred  up  the  mist  and  the  wind  by  the  power 
which  his  nature  gave  him.  Then,  when  the  day 
was  spent,  he  covered  the  valley  with  cloud,  from 
Pratomagno  to  the  great  mountain  chain,  making 
the  o'erhanging  sky  so  heavy  that  the  moisture- 
laden  air  turned  to  water.  Down  came  the  rain. 
What  the  earth  could  not  absorb  ran  to  the  gullies. 
It  gathered  in  torrents  and  rushed  so  swiftly  toward 
the  royal  river  that  nothing  could  check  it.  The 
raging  Archiano  found  my  frozen  body  at  its  mouth 
and  swept  it  into  the  Arno.  It  loosened  the  cross 
I  had  made  with  my  arms  upon  my  breast  at  the 
moment  I  yielded  to  the  agony  of  death.  It  rolled 
me  along  its  banks,  and  over  its  bed,  and  with  its 
debris  covered  and  entangled  me.'* 

This  story,  justly  famous  for  the  way  in  which 
the  lonely  death  and  unheeded  memory  of  Buon- 
conte  is  told — a  tale  of  violent  and  solitary  dying, 
and  of  a  life  at  once  forgotten  by  wife,  and  kin, 
and  friend — is  immediately  followed  by  another,  in 
which  deep  pathos  and  intense  tragedy  are  implied 
rather  than  detailed,  in  one  of  the  most  vivid  bits 
of  impressionism  ever  painted  in  words.  The  shade 
of  Pia,  member  of  one  of  the  great  families  of 
Siena,  who  was  put  to  death  by  her  husband,  a  lord 
of  Maremma,  says  to  Dante : 


158  DANTE 

"And  when  you  shall  have  returned  to  the  world, 
and  rested  from  your  long  journey,  remember  me, 
who  am  Pia.  Siena  made  me.  Maremma  unmade 
me.  He  knows,  who,  first  plighting  troth,  had 
wedded  me  with  his  ring."^ 

CANTO   VI 

The  same  scene  as  in  Canto  V.  Dante  and  Virgil 
move  forward,  and  Dante  leaves  the  shades  with 
the  promise  to  carry  back  news  of  them  to  their 
friends,  and  so  secure  prayers  for  them.  He  likens 
his  position  to  that  of  a  winner  in  a  game  of 
chance,  fawned  on  by  the  bystanders  and  anxious 
to  get  away. 

When  a  game  of  hazard  is  over,  he  who  loses 
remains  behind,  disconsolate,  repeating  the  throws, 
and,  disappointed,  learns.  The  crowd  follows  the 
winner.  One  goes  in  front,  and  another  catches  at 
him  from  behind,  and  a  third,  at  his  side,  makes 
himself  known.  The  winner  does  not  stop.  He 
listens  to  one,  and  to  another.  The  man  to  whom 
he  gives  something  presses  on  him  no  longer,  and 

'A  deal  of  womanly  gentleness  and  considerate  tenderness, 
and  of  a  modesty  that  shrank  even  from  asking  prayers  for 
her  soul's  easement,  is  compressed  into  Pia's  sad  story  told 
"in  a  few  simple  sentences,  but  so  clearly,  and  so  tersely,  that 
the  passage  has  always  been  reputed  one  of  those  that  dem- 
onstrate to  the  fullest  extent  Dante's  marvelous  power  of 
condensed  narrative." — Vernon. 


DANTE  159 

so  he  protects  himself  from  the  crowd.  Such  was 
I  in  that  dense  throng,  as  I  turned  my  face  to  them 
on  every  side,  and,  by  giving  promises,  escaped. 

Virgil  discourses  to  Dante  on  the  efficacy  of 
prayer,  closing  his  remarks  with  the  words : 

"I  speak  of  Beatrice.  You  shall  see  her  up  above, 
smiling  and  happy,  upon  the  summit  of  this  moun- 
tain." 

And  I:  "My  Lord,  let  us  advance  with  greater 
speed,  for  I  am  no  longer  weary  as  I  was  a  while 
ago;^  and  see  how  the  mountain  casts  its  shadow.". 

"We  will  go  forward  so  far  as  daylight  allows," 
he  answered;  "but  the  fact  is  not  as  you  imagine. 
Before  you  can  be  up  there  you  will  see  him  return 
that  is  at  present  hidden  behind  the  hill  so  that  now 
you  do  not  intercept  his  rays.  But  see,  yonder  a 
soul,  which,  stationed  all  alone,  is  looking  toward 
us ;  it  will  point  out  to  us  the  quickest  way." 

We  came  near  to  it,  O  Lombard  soul,  with  what 
lofty  and  disdainful  mien  did  you  bear  yourself; 
and,  in  the  movement  of  your  eyes  how  grave  and 
slow !    It  spoke  not  a  word,  but  let  us  go  on,  eying 


_*The  mere,  but  oh  I  how  clever  naming  of  Beatrice  by  Vir- 
gil, is  more  than  enough  to  make  Dante  forget  that  he  is  tired. 
A  world  of  human  nature  is  implied  by  Dante's  "I  am  no 
longer  tired" ;  no  less  a  world  of  human  understanding ;  of 
wholly  beautiful  and  highly  humorous  sympathy,  is  implied  by 
Virgil's  mention  of  Beatrice.  The  dialogue  is  fascinatingly 
real ;  a  true  love  scene  if  ever  there  was  one. 


160  DANTE 

us  like  a  couchant  lion.  None  the  less  did  Virgil 
approach  closer,  praying  that  it  would  show  us  the 
best  ascent.  It  made  no  answer  to  his  request,  but 
asked  us  about  our  country,  and  our  life.  And  my 
gentle  guide  began: 

"Mantua" — and  the  shade,  all  absorbed  in  itself, 
rose  toward  him,  exclaiming: 

"O  Mantuan,  I  am  Sordello*  of  your  city.'* 

And  they  embraced  each  other. 

CANTO   VII 

Jhe  incident  of  Virgil  and  Sordello  is  continued. 

After  dignified  and  joyous  salutations  had  been 
thrice  and  four  times  repeated  Sordello  drew  back, 
and  said : 

"Who  are  you?" 

VIRGIL 

"My  bones  had  been  buried  by  Octavian  before 
ever  souls,  fit  to  ascend  to  God,  were  directed  to  this 
mountain.^  I  am  Virgil,  and  for  no  other  sin  did  I 
lose  Heaven  than  that  of  not  having  faith." 


'  Little  is  known  of  Sordello,  save  that  Dante  held  him  in 
high  respect.  The  bond  of  being  citizens  of  the  same  city, 
Mantua,  and  love  of  their  common  birthplace,  causes  the 
haughty,  high-bred  Sordello  to  come  out  of  himself  and  wel- 
come Virgil,  who,  as  yet,  he  knows  merely  as  a  fellow-citizen. 

*  Virgil  died  A.  D.  19,  before  Christ's  crucifixion,  and  hence 
before  the  way  to  eternal  life  had  been  made  plain  to  man. 


DANTE  161 

Like  one  who  suddenly  sees  something  that  aston- 
ishes him,  which  at  the  same  instant  causes  him  to 
beHeve  and  disbeHeve,  exclaiming :  "It  is,  it  is  not," 
— such  seemed  Sordello's  shade.  Then  he  bowed 
his  head,  and  came  humbly  toward  my  guide,  and 
embraced  him  where  an  inferior  embraces.^ 

SORDELLO 

"O  Glory  of  the  Latins,  by  whom  our  language 
was  made  to  show  what  it  could  do;  O  Eternal 
Honor  of  the  place  where  I  was  born,  what  merit 
or  what  grace  reveals  you  to  me?  If  I  am  worthy 
to  be  spoken  to,  tell  me  if  you  come  from  Hell,  and 
from  what  circle." 

VIRGIL 

"Through  all  the  circles  of  the  realm  of  woe 
came  I  here.  The  power  of  Heaven  moved  me  by 
its  authority,  and  I  came.  Not  for  what  I  did,  but 
for  what  I  did  not  do,  have  I  lost  the  vision  of  the 
high  Sun'  for  which  you  long,  and  about  which  I 
learned  too  late.*  There  is  a  place  in  the  under- 
world, sad,  not  with  torments  but  only  with  gloom, 
where  sighs  have  not  the  sound  of  wailing,  but  of 
lamentation.  In  that  place  I  abide  with  the  little 
innocents  whom  death  stung  before  they  had  been 


'  Below  the  knees. 

•God. 

*  Virgil  did  not  know  about  Qirist  until  after  his  own  death. 


162  DANTE 

cleansed  of  mortal  sin.'^  In  that  place  I  dwell  witH 
those  who  were  not  clothed  with  the  three  holy  vir- 
tues,' but  without  fault  of  any  kind  knew  the  oth- 
ers, and  practised  all  of  them.'^  But  if  you  know, 
and  can,  point  out  to  us  the  way  whereby  we  may 
more  quickly  reach  the  place  where  Purgatory  has 
its  real  beginning." 

SORDELLO 

"No  fixed  place  is  assigned  to  us.  I  am  free  to  go 
up  and  round  about.  For  so  far  as  I  am  permitted 
I  will  guide  you.  But  note  already  how  the  day 
declines.  To  ascend  by  night  is  impossible;  hence 
it  is  well  to  find  a  pleasant  resting  place.  Yonder,  to 
the  right,  apart  from  the  others,  is  a  company  of 
souls.  With  your  consent  I  will  lead  you  to  them, 
and  not  without  delight  will  they  be  known  to  you." 

VIRGIL 

"How  is  it?  Would  he  who  wished  to  ascend  at 
night  be  prevented  by  others,  or  could  he  not  go  up 
for  lack  of  power?" 

And  the  good  Sordello  drew  his  finger  on  the 
ground,  saying: 

"Look!  you  could  not  even  cross  this  line  after 


•  Before  they  were  baptized. 
'  The  Christian  virtues,  Faith,  Hope  and  Charity. 
^The  Cardinal  virtues,  Temperance,  Fortitude,  Justice  and 
Prudence. 


DANTE  163 

the  sun  is  gone;  not  however  that  anything  save 
the  darkness  of  the  night  would  hinder.  It  hinders 
the  will  with  impotence.^  One  might  turn  down- 
ward in  the  darkness  and  roam  about  the  mountain 
so  long  as  day  remains  below  the  horizon." 
Thereon  my  lord,  as  though  in  wonder,  said : 
"Lead  us  there  where  you  say  we  may  have  de- 
light while  waiting." 

Short  distance  had  we  gone  when  I  discovered 
that  the  mountain  side  was  hollowed  out,  as  on  Earth 
the  valleys  are. 

SORDELLO 

"Over  there  where  the  hill  side  forms  a  lap,  we 
will  go,  and  there  we  will  await  the  morrow." 

In  places,  steep,  in  others,  level,  a  winding  path  led 
us  along  the  edge  of  the  valley  to  where  its  border 
more  than  half  dies  away.  Gold  and  fine  silver, 
scarlet  and  pearl,  white,  blue  of  indigo,  new  emerald 
at  the  moment  it  is  split,  would  each  be  outshone  by 
the  herbage  and  the  flowers  of  that  valley,  as  the 
less  is  exceeded  by  the  greater.  Not  only  had  Na- 
ture given  color  there,  but  of  a  thousand  scents  she 
had  made  one  unknown  and  blended  fragrance. 

Here,  seated  upon  the  green,  and  among  flowers, 
I  saw  souls,  because  of  the  depression,  not  visible 

•  This  is  allegory.  It  means  that  the  soul  can  ascend  Purga- 
tory, the  mountain  of  purification,  only  when  illumined  by  the 
Sun  of  Grace. 


164  DANTE 

from   without.      They   were    singing,    "Salve    Re- 
gina."' 

Sordello  points  out,  and  names,  some  of  these 
souls,*"  beginning : 

"He  who  sits  highest  and  has  the  look  of  having 
left  undone  that  which  he  should  have  done,  and 
does  not  join  in  singing  with  the  others,  was  Ru- 
dolph the  Emperor,  who  might  have  healed  the 
wounds  that  have  slain  Italy."" 

CANTO  VIH 

Valley  of  princes. 

It  was  the  hour  that  makes  sailors  long  for  home 
and  softens  their  hearts,  the  day  when  they  have 
bade  farewell  to  their  dear  friends,  the  hour  that 
fills,  with  love,  him  who  has  just  set  out  upon 
a  journey,  if  from  afar  he  hears  the  bell  which 
seems  to  mourn  the  dying  day.*     I  began  to  lose 

•  A  beautiful  hymn  appointed  to  be  sung  at  certain  seasons 
just  before  nightfall,  and  peculiarly  appropriate  to  these  souls 
in  exile,  as  it  were.  "Hail,  Queen,  Mother  of  Mercy!  To 
thee,  we  exiled  Sons  of  Eve,  do  cry — come  then,  our  Advo- 
cate, when  the  exile  is  o'er,  and  show  us  Jesus." 

"These  souls  are  tliose  of  kings  and  princes  who  did  not 
repent  until  the  end  because  of  the  weight  of  the  cares  of 
state. 

"Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  crowned  in  1273. 

*  Byron  imitated  this  beautiful  description  of  the  effect 
of  twilight  in  bringing  thoughts  of  home  to  the  mariner  and 
pilgrim.    Don  Juan,  III. 


DANTE  165 

consciousness  of  what  was  being  said,  and  to  look, 
with  wonder,  at  one  of  the  shades,  who,  uprisen, 
claimed  attention  with  his  hand.  It  joined  and 
lifted  both  its  palms,  fixing  its  eyes  upon  the  East, 
as  though  it  were  saying  to  God,  "For  aught  else  I 
care  not."  *'Te  lucis  ante"^  came  so  devoutly  from 
its  lips,  and  in  tones  so  sweet,  that  it  took  me  out 
of  my  very  self.  And  then  the  others,  sweetly  and 
reverently  accompanied  it  through  the  entire  hymn 
to  the  end,  keeping  their  gaze  upon  the  heavenly 
spheres.  Here,  Reader,  open  wide  your  eyes  to  the 
truth,  for  truly  the  veil'  is  now  so  slight  that  it  is 
easy  to  pass  within. 

Thereupon  I  saw  that  noble  company  all  silently 
look  upward,  pale  and  meek,  as  if  in  expectation; 
and  I  saw  two  angels  come  forth  and  descend  from 
on  high,  with  two  flaming  swords,  blunted  and  with- 
out points.  Green*  as  leaves  of  spring  was  their 
raiment,  which,  beaten  and  blown  by  their  green 
wings,  they  trailed  behind  them.     One  came  and 

"Soft  hour  I  which  wakes  the  wish  and  melts  the  heart, 
Of  those  who  sail  the  seas,  on  the  first  day 

When  they  from  their  sweet  friends  are  torn  apart ; 
Or  fills  with  love  the  pilgrim  on  his  way, 

As  the  far  bell  of  vesper  makes  him  start 
Seeming  to  weep  the  dying  day's  decay;" 

•It  is  the  Latin  form  of  the  much-loved  evening  hymn 
which  begins :   "Before  the  ending  of  the  day." 

•The  allegory  refers  probably  to  the  fact  that  these  souls 
outside  Purgatory  are  still  subject  to  temptation,  and  must 
call  upon  God  for  help  to  resist.  The  serpent  signifies  temp- 
tation ;  the  angels,  God's  help. 

*  Green  is  the  color  of  hope. 


166  DANTE 

stationed  himself  a  little  above  us,  and  tfie  other 
swept  his  way  to  the  opposite  bank  so  that  all  the 
inhabitants  were  guarded  between  them.  I  saw 
clearly  that  their  heads  were  blond,  but  by  their 
faces  the  eye  was  dazzled,  as  every  sense  is  con- 
founded by  excess. 

"Both  of  them  come  from  the  bosom  of  Mary," 
said  Sordello,  "to  keep  watch  over  the  valley,  be- 
cause of  the  serpent  that  will  straightway  come." 
Hearing  this,  I,  who  knew  not  by  what  way,  chilled 
through,  turned  and  drew  close  to  my  trusted 
leader. 

Sordello  began  iagain: 

"Let  us  now  go  down  among  tHe  mighty  shades 
and  speak  with  them;  to  see  you  will  give  them 

joy." 

I  think  I  took  only  three  steps  down.  There  be- 
low I  noticed  one  who  was  looking  hard  at  me 
alone,  as  if  he  thought  to  recognize  me.  It  was  al- 
ready dusk,  but  not  so  dark  that  the  little  space  be- 
tween his  eyes  and  mine  did  not  allow  to  be  seen 
what  distance  had  before  concealed.  He  drew  very 
near  to  me,  and  I  approached  him.  Noble  Judge 
Nino!  what  delight  it  was  to  me  when  I  saw  that 
you  were  not  among  the  damned !  No  kind  greet- 
ing was  left  unsaid  by  us.    Then  he  asked : 

"How  long  is  it  since  you  arrived  at  the  foot  of 
the  mountain  from  beyond  the  wide  waters?" 

"Oh,"  replied  I  to  him,  "I  came  this  morning 


DANTE  167, 

from  the  realms  of  woe  and  am  still  in  the  mortal 
life  although  by  making  this  journey  I  hope  to  gain 
the  immortal." 

And  when  they  had  heard  my  reply,  Sordello  and 
he  drew  themselves  back  like  people  suddenly  be- 
wildered.'' One  of  them  turned  to  Virgil,  and  the 
other  to  a  shade  seated  close  by,  crying : 

"Up,  Corrado,  come  and  see  what  God  through 
grace  has  willed." 

Then  turning  to  me : 

Nino 


**By  that  exceptional  gratitude  which  you  owe 
Him  who  so  hides  His  prime  motive  that  no  human 
being  can  fathom  it,  when  you  shall  again  be  on  the 
far  side  of  the  wide  sea,  tell  my  Joan®  to  make  inter- 
cession for  me  there  where  answer  is  made  to  the 
innocent.  I  do  not  think  her  mother  any  longer 
loves  me  since  she  has  changed  her  white  weeds, 
which  she,  miserable  creature,  must  even  now  wish 
back.  Through  her  one  may  easily  understand  how 
long  the  fire  of  love  lasts  in  a  woman  if  sight  and 
touch  do  not  often  feed  its  flame." 

My  eyes  meantime  I  kept  bent  wholly  upon  the 


•  Because  heretofore  Sordello,  absorbed  in  talk  with  Virgil, 
had  not  perceived  that  Dante  was  a  living,  breathing  man. 

*  Judge  Nino's  daughter. 


168  DANTE 

heavens ;  only  on  that  part  where  the  stars  are  slow- 
est/ just  as  a  wheel  is,  nearest  the  axle. 

VIRGIL 

**My  son,  what  look  you  at  so  fixedly  up  there  ?" 

DANTE 

*'At  those  three  torches'  with  which  the  pole  on 
this  side  blazes." 

VIRGIL 

"The  four  bright  stars'*  which  you  saw  this  morn- 
ing have  sunk  low  down  upon  the  other  side  and 
these  have  risen  in  their  place." 

While  Virgil  was  still  speaking  Sordello  dre\y 
him  to  himself,  exclaiming: 

"See,  there's  our  adversary!"  and  pointed  with 
his  finger  to  look  that  way.  On  the  side  where  the 
little  valley  had  no  defense  was  a  serpent,  such  an 
one  perhaps  as  offered  Eve  the  bitter  fruit.  Through 
grass  and  flowers  came  the  evil  thing,  now  and 
again  turning  its  head  backward,  licking  like  a  beast 

*  The  South  Pole. 

'The  three  bright  stars  which  symbolize  Faith,  Hope  and 
Charity  which  Dante  sees  looking  to  the  Pole  from  the  south 
side  of  the  Equator. 

•Justice,  Fortitude,  Prudence  and  Temperance. 


DANTE  169 

that  strokes  its  coat.  I  did  not  see,  and  therefore 
can  not  tell  how  the  celestial  falcons  moved,  but  I 
distinctly  saw  both  of  them  in  motion.  Hearing 
their  green  pinions  cleave  the  air,  the  serpent  fled, 
and  the  angels  wheeled  upward  to  their  posts  with 
equal  flight. 

CANTO  1% 

The  gate  of  Purgatory.  With  this  canto  Dante 
concludes  his  account  of  Ante-Purgatory  and  the 
condition  of  the  waiting  souls  not  yet  admitted  to 
Purgatory  proper.  From  this  point  to  the  close  of 
Canto  XXVII,  the  poem  treats  of  the  sufferings 
and  purgation  of  the  souls  of  those  who  gave  way 
to  any  of  the  seven  mortal  sins,  Pride,  Envy,  Anger, 
Sloth,  Avarice,  Gluttony  and  Lust.  The  time  is 
about  two  and  a  half  hours  after  sundown. 

The  concubine  of  old  Tithonus*  rising  from  the 
arms  of  her  fond  lover  was  already  gleaming  sil- 
very on  the  balcony  of  the  east.  Her  brow  was 
glistening  with  stars  set  in  the  shape  of  the  cold- 
blooded creature*  that  stings  people  with  its  tail. 
And  in  the  place  where  we  were.  Night  had  taken 
two  of  the  steps'  by  which  she  ascends,  and  for  the 

*  Aurora,  the  true  wife  of  Tithonus,  as  preceding  sunrise, 
and  the  lunar  Aurora,  his  concubine,  the  light  which  precedes 
moonrise. 

*  The  sign  of  the  Scorpion  was  on  the  horizon. 

"The  steps  are  the  first  six  hours  of  the  night,  from  six 
p.  m.  to  midnight. 


170  DANTE 

third,  the  wings  were  already  bending  down ;  when 
I,  who  still  had  something  of  Adam*  in  me,  over- 
come by  sleep,  fell  back  upon  the  grass  there  where 
all  five  of  us"  were  seated. 

At  the  hour  near  day-break  when  the  little  swal- 
low begins  her  plaintive  lays,"  recollecting  mayhap 
her  former  woes,  and  when  mortal  mind,  more  free 
of  the  flesh  and  less  subject  to  thought,  is  almost 
prophetic  in  its  visions,  in  dream  I  saw  an  eagle 
"with  golden  feathers,  poised  in  mid-air,  with  wings 
outspread,  ready  to  swoop.  I  seemed  to  be  there,' 
where  Ganymede  was  abandoned  by  his  compan- 
ions when  he  was  snatched  aloft  to  Olympus.  Then 
it  seemed  to  me  that  circling  a  little,  terrible  as  a 
thunderbolt  he  swooped  down,  and  caught  me  up- 
ward as  high  as  the  fire.®  Then  he  and  I  seemed  to 
bum,  and  the  imagined  flame  scorched  so,  that  of 
necessity  my  sleep  was  broken.  As  slumber  fled  I 
started  up,  pale,  like  a  man  frozen  with  fear.  Beside 
me  was  my  comforter  only,  and  the  sun  was  more 
than  two  hours  high,®  and  my  face  was  toward  the 
sea. 

"Have  no  fear,"  said  my  lord :  "be  reassured,  for 


*  Human  nature  needing  rest. 

"Dante,  Virgil,  Sordello,  Nino  and  Corrado. 
"An  allusion  to  the  tragic  story  of  the  transforming  of 
Progne  into  a  swallow,  and  Philomela  into  a  nightingale. 

*  Mount  Ida,   from  which  Ganymede  was  snatched  by  an 
eagle  and  carried  to  Olympus  to  be  the  Gods'  cupbearer. 

The  sphere  of  fire. 
*The  morning  of  Easter  Monday. 


DANTE  171 

we  are  at  a  good  point.  Hold  not  back,  but  put 
forth  all  your  might.  You  are  now  arrived  at  Pur- 
gatory ;  see  yonder  the  rampart  that  hems  it  in ;  see 
yonder  the  entrance,  there  where  it  appears  divided. 
Short  time  since,  in  the  dawn  that  precedes  the  day, 
when  you  were  asleep,  and  lying  upon  the  flowers 
which  deck  the  valley  down  below,  a  lady  came,  and 
said :  *I  am  Lucia ;  let  me  take  up  this  one  who  is 
sleeping ;  thus  will  I  speed  him  on  his  way.*  Sordello 
and  the  other  noble  shades  remained.  She  lifted  you 
up,  and,  so  soon  as  the  day  brightened,  she  mounted, 
and  I  in  her  footsteps.  Here  she  put  you  down. 
First  her  lovely  eyes  directed  me  to  that  rift;  then 
she  and  sleep  went  away  together." 

As  a  man  in  doubt,  on  being  reassured,  changes 
fear  for  confidence,  when  the  truth  is  made  plain  to 
him,  so  I  changed.  And  when  my  guide  saw  that  I 
was  no  longer  anxious,  he  began  to  go  up  along  the 
cliff,  and  I  behind  him,  toward  the  height.  We 
drew  near  and  came  to  a  place  where,  instead  of  a 
rift  in  the  wall,  I  beheld  a  gate,  and  below,  leading 
up  to  it,  three  steps  of  divers  colors,  and  a  gate- 
keeper who  as  yet  spoke  not  a  word.  And  as  I 
fixed  my  eye  more  and  more  upon  him,  I  discovered 
that  he  was  sitting  on  the  upper  step,  and  that  I 
could  not  look  him  in  the  face.  In  his  hand  he  held 
a  naked  sword  which  shot  back  the  rays  so  daz- 
zlingly  that  again  and  again  I  lifted  my  eyes  in  vain. 

"Speak  from  where  you  are :    What  is  it  that  you 


172  DANTE 

f 

wish?"  he  began.     "Where  is  your  guide?     Give 

heed  lest  your  going  up  work  you  harm." 

"A  lady  from  Heaven,  well  versed  in  these 
things,"  replied  my  master,  "only  just  now  said  to 
us :  *Go  thither,  there  is  the  gate.*  " 

"And  may  she  speed  your  steps  to  a  good  end," 
again  began  the  courteous  keeper :  "Come  forward 
unto  our  stairs." 

And  so  we  went  to  the  first  great  stair.  It  was  of 
white  marble,  so  smooth  and  polished  that  in  it  I 
saw  myself  reflected  perfectly.  The  second  was 
dark  purple  gray,  a  rough  and  scorched  stone 
cracked  lengthwise  and  across.  The  third,  massive 
and  uppermost,  appeared  to  me  to  be  of  porphyry  as 
flaming  red  as  blood  that  spurts  from  a  vein.  On 
this  the  Angel  of  God  had  both  his  feet,  sitting  upon 
the  threshold  which  seemed  to  me  to  be  of  adamant. 
Up  the  three  steps  my  guide  led  me  with  good  will, 
saying : 

"Beseech  him  humbly  to  undo  the  lock." 
Devoutly  did  I  cast  myself  at  the  holy  feet;  I 
besought  him  for  mercy's  sake  to  open;  but  first  I 
struck  three  times  upon  my  breast.'^" 

With  the  point  of  his  sword  he  inscribed  Seven 
P's"  upon  my  forehead,  then  said : 


"To  signify  his  penitence  for  sins  of  thought,  word  and 
deed. 
"  They  stand  for  the  seven  mortal  sins,  Peccata. 


DANTE  173 

"See  to  it  that  you  wash  away  these  scars  when 
you  are  inside." 

Ashes,  or  dry  earth,  are  of  the  same  color  as  his 
raiment,  from  beneath  which  he  drew  forth  two 
keys.  One  was  gold  and  the  other  silver.^^  First 
with  the  white,  and  then  with  the  yellow,  he  did  to 
the  gate  what  I  desired. 

"Whenever  one  of  these  keys  fails,  so  that  it  does 
not  turn  rightly  in  the  lock,"  he  said  to  us,  "this 
narrow  entrance  will  not  open.  The  one  is  more 
precious,  but  the  other  requires  surpassing  skill  and 
wisdom  before  it  unlocks,  because  it  is  that  which 
must  untangle  the  knot."  From  Peter  I  had  them ; 
and  he  told  me  to  err  rather  in  opening  than  in  keep- 
ing shut,  provided  only  the  people  humble  them- 
selves at  my  feet."  Thereon  he  pushed  open  the 
door  of  the  sacred  portal,  saying: 

"Enter  in,  but  I  warn  you  that  he  who  looks  back 
must  go  out  again." 

And  when  the  pivots,  metal,  strong  and  resonant, 
of  that  sacred  door  turned  in  their  sockets,  Tarpeia 
roared  not  so  loud  nor  made  so  harsh  a  sound  when 
the  good  Metellus  was  taken  from  her,  whereby  she 
afterward  was  impoverished.** 


"The  gold  key  typifies  power  to  open;  the  silver,  judgement 
as  to  whom  to  open  for. 

"Tlie  question  of  a  soul's  fitness  to  enter. 

"The  Tarpeian  rock  is  here  used  to  signify  the  CapitoHne 
Hill.  The  tribune  Metellus  unsuccessfully  defended  the  temple 
of  Saturn,  the  public  treasury,  against  Caesar,  and  the  Tarpeian 


174  PANTE 

I  turned  aside  to  listen  to  the  first  sound  within 
and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  heard  the  words:  Te 
Deum  laudamus,^'^  set  to  sweet  harmony.  What  I 
heard  gave  me  the  same  impression  that  we  are  ac- 
customed to  receive  when  people  are  chanting  with 
an  organ,  inasmuch  as  at  one  moment  the  words 
are  distinguishable,  at  another,  not. 

CANTOS  X  TO  XXVIII 

Purgatory  proper.  The  first  ledge  of  Purgatory, 
to  which  Dante  and  Virgil  climb  by  a  precipitous 
and  narrow  passage.    They  find  this  terrace : 

more  lonely  than  paths  through  ideserts ; 
and  that,  in  width,  it 

would    measure    thrice    the    length    of    a   human 
body.* 

Before  they  have  begun  to  walk  along  it  Dante 
discovers  that  the  wall  which  rises  to  the  next  ledge, 


rock,  close  by,  is  said  to  have  echoed  the  creaking  when  the 
doors  were  torn  open. 

"  "We  praise  thee,  O  God,"  is  the  song  of  welcome  and 
rejoicing  which  here  celebrates  every  new  arrival,  and  sig- 
nifies the  joy  felt  over  every  single  sinner  that  repenteth. 

*  About  eighteen  feet  wide.  This  is  a  striking  example  of 
Dante's  use  of  precise  and  understandable  detail  by  which  he 
again  and  again  bestows  the  quality  of  what  is  real  upon  the 
thing  that  he  imagines. 


DANTE  175 

really;  the  face  of  the  second  step  of  the  moun- 
tain, is: 

of  white  marble,  adorned  with  such  sculptures  that 
not  only  Polycletus,^  but  Nature  herself,  would 
have  been  put  to  shame  thereby. 

These  bas-reliefs  depict  famous  instances  of  hu- 
mility, drawn,  turn  by  turn,  from  Biblical  and  classi- 
cal sources.  The  accuracy  and  affection  with  which 
Dante  describes  them,  and  the  way  in  which  he  con- 
vinces the  reader  of  the  tremendous  influence  of 
these  stories  of  humility  upon  souls  in  the  act  of 
purging  themselves  from  the  sin  of  pride  are  no- 
table among  the  mighty  as  well  as  the  lovely  attri- 
butes of  The  Comedy. 

"The  Angel  who  came  to  Earth  with  the  tidings 
of  that  peace  so  many  years  wept  for,  which  opened 
Heaven  from  its  long  interdict,'  appeared  before 
us,  carved  with  a  sweet  attitude,  so  true  to  life  that 
he  did  not  seem  a  dumb  show.  One  would  have 
sworn  that  he  was  saying :  *Hail  !'*  for  she  too  was 
imaged  there  who  turned  the  key  to  open  Divine 
Love.  And  her  action  expressed  the  words,  *Behold 
the  handmaiden  of  the  Lord,'  as  exactly  as  a  seal  is 
stamped  on  wax." 

*  A  famous  Greek  sculptor. 

*  It  meant  that  with  the  coming  of  Christ  salvation  was  to 
be  again  possible  for  mankind  as  it  had  been  before  the  Fall. 

*  "Hail  Mary,  full  of  Grace,  the  Lord  is  with  thee." 


176  DANTE 

"  *Do  not  fix  your  attention  upon  one  spot  only/  " 
said  my  gentle  master.  At  this  I  moved  my  eyes 
and  saw,  next  beyond  Mary,  another  story  sculp- 
tured in  the  rock,  and  this  was  to  the  right,  where 
my  guide  stood.  Therefore  I  passed  Virgil,  and 
drew  near  so  that  it  might  be  directly  before  me. 
There  on  the  marble  were  car\'^ed  the  cart  and  the 
oxen  drawing  the  sacred  ark,  because  of  which  men 
fear  an  office  not  entrusted  to  them." 

"In  front  moved  seven  bands,'  from  whence 
Confusion  fell  on  me,  my  sense 

A  double  answer  bringing, 

'They  are,  they  are  not  singing.' 
The  incense  steam  with  like  surprise 
Bewildered  both  my  nose  and  eyes, 

Discordant  message  sending. 

For  Aye  and  No  contending."^ 

In  front  of  the  blessed  vessel  went  the  humble 
Psalmist,  girt  up  and  dancing.  He  was  both  more 
and  less  than  a  king  on  that  occasion.*  Opposite, 
portrayed  at  the  window  of  a  great  palace,  Michal* 
was  gazing  in  amazement,  with  the  manner  of  a  lady 
scornful  and  disturbed. 

I  moved  on  in  order  to  examine  closely  another 
story  which,  beyond  Michal,  shone  glittering  white. 
Here  was  chronicled  the  exalted  glory  of  the  Roman 


'  See  2  Samuel,  vi  :4-7. 

*  Of  people. 

'  Shadwell's  translation. 

*  More  than  a  king  because  a  priest,  and  less  than  a  king 
because  he  humbled  himself  by  dancing  without  his  royal 
vestments. 

*  The  daughter  of  Saul.  For  this  story  see  2  Samuel  vi :  12-16. 


DANTE  177 

prince  whose  great  worth  moved  Gregory  to  his 
tremendous  victory/"  I  speak  of  the  Emperor  Tra- 
jan; and  a  poor  woman  was  at  his  bridle,  shown 
weeping  and  in  grief;  Round  about  him  it  seemed 
trampled  and  thronged  with  knights,  and  above  him 
the  golden  eagles  seemed  moving  in  the  wind.  The 
woman  among  all  these  appeared  to  be  saying:  "My 
Lord,  avenge  me  for  my  son  who  is  dead,  whereat 
I  am  broken-hearted."  And  he  to  answer  her: 
"Wait  until  I  return."  And  she  like  one  in  whom 
grief  is  impatient:  "But,  my  Lord,  if  you  do  not 
return?"  And  he:  "He  who  shall  be  in  my  place 
will  do  it  for  you."  And  she :  "What  will  another's 
good  deed  profit  you,  if  you  forget  your  own?" 
Whereon  he:  "Be  comforted,  for  I  must  do  my 
duty  ere  I  go :  justice  demands  it,  and  pity  holds  me 
back." 

While  Dante  is  absorbed  in  looking  at  these 
sculptured  stories,  Virgil  calls  his  attention  to  a 
group  of  shades  advancing.  These  are  the  spirits 
of  the  Proud,  moving  slowly  because  of  heavy 
weights  which  they  were  carrying  on  their  backs. 
Bent  almost  double,  in  contrast  to  the  lofty  bearing 
they  had  maintained  on  Earth  they  seem  scarcely  to 
be  men. 


"The  legend  referred  to  is  that  which  records  how  Pope 
Gregory  the  Great,  because  of  Trajan's  justice  and  clemency, 
besought  God  to  take  the  Emperor's  shade  out  of  Hell.  That 
God  acceded  to  this  prayer  was  Gregory's  victory. 


178  DANTE 

CANTO  XI 

The  canto  opens  with  a  paraphrase  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  which  the  shades  of  the  Proud  are  reciting. 
It  closes  with  the  petition : 

"Our  strength,  which  is  easily  overcome,  put  not 
to  proof  with  the  old  adversary,  but  deliver  us  from 
him  who  so  assails  it. 

"This  last  prayer,  dear  Lord,  is  not  indeed  made 
for  ourselves,  for  it  is  not  needed,  but  for  those  who 
have  remained  behind."^ 

Virgil  says  to  the  shades : 

"So  may  justice  and  mercy  soon  lighten  you  of 
your  burdens  that,  in  accord  with  your  desire,  you 
may  have  power  to  move  the  wing  that  shall  bear 
you  on  high,  show  us  on  which  side  the  shortest 
path  to  the  stairway  lies;  and  if  there  is  more  than 
one  passage,  point  out  to  us  that  which  is  least 
steep;  for  he  who  goes  with  me,  because  still  bur- 
dened with  the  flesh  of  Adam,  is  chary,  against  his 
will,  of  climbing." 

It  was  impossible  to  see  from  which  one  of  them 
the  answer  came,'*  but  it  was : 


*  In  Purgatory  the  Devil  has  no  power  to  tempt.  They  pray 
for  those  in  Ante-Purgatory,  and  the  living  upon  Earth.  It 
must  constantly  be  borne  in  mind  that  Dante  recognized 
Pride  as  his  own  besetting  sin.  Wherever  he  meets  with  it  he 
is  specially  affected. 

*  Because  their  faces  were  so  bowed  down. 


DANTE  '  17S> 

"Come  with  us  to  the  right  hand  along  the  bank 
and  you  will  find  the  passage  hy  which  it  is  possible 
for  a  living  person  to  ascend." 

The  shade  who  has  just  spoken  then  goes  on  to 
tell  Dante  who  he  was,  one  Omberto,  "son  of  a 
great  Tuscan,"  and  immediately  afterward,  realiz- 
ing that  he  had  been  guilty  of  pride  in  this  mention 
of  his  father,  asks  Dante  if  he  had  ever  heard  of 
his  father  as  an  act  of  humility.  Another  shade 
now  makes  himself  known. 

Listening,  I  bent  down  my  face;  and  one  of  them, 
not  he  who  had  been  speaking,  managed  to  twist 
round  under  the  weight  that  hampered  him,  and 
saw  me,  and  recognized  me,  and  called  out,  keeping 
his  eyes  with  difficulty  fixed  on  me,  who,  bent  over, 
was  going  along  with  them. 

"Oh,"  said  I  to  him,  "are  you  not  Oderisi,'  the 
honor  of  Gubbio,  and  of  that  art  which  in  Paris  is 
called  illuminating?" 

"Brother,"  said  he,  "the  leaves  which  Franco  of 

•  This  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  passage,  being,  as  it  is,  an 
expression  of  the  attitude  of  Dante  and  his  age  toward  the 
then  reviving  art  of  painting.  Oderisi  was  a  famous  minia- 
turist who  worked  at  Bologna  and  Rome.  He  took  pride  in 
his  own  skill  as  a  painter,  and  here  in  Purgatory  he  shows  his 
penitence  by  owning  to  his  rival's,  Franco's  superiority.  The 
passage,  ending  as  it  does  witli  Giotto,  is  true  to  the  fact, 
namely,  that  Italian  painting  was  at  this  time  making  rapid 
advance  toward  the  perfection  with  which  it  crowned  .itself 
during  the  Renaissance,  The  general  idea  of  this  passage 
and  the  subsequent  history  of  painting  are  embodied  per- 
fectly in  Ruskin's  saying  that  in  art  Giotto  uttered  burning 
words  of  prophecy  with  tlie  stammering  lips  of  infancy. 


180  DANTE 

Bologna  paints  are  fairer  to  look  upon;  the  honor 
now  is  all  his,  and  mine  only  in  part.  Truly  I 
should  not  have  been  so  generous  while  I  lived,  be- 
cause of  the  overwhelming  wish  to  excel,  on  which 
my  heart  was  set.  For  such  pride  the  penalty  is 
paid  here ;  and  moreover  I  should  not  be  here,  were 
it  not  that  while  I  still  was  free  to  sin,  I  turned  to 
God.  Oh,  vain-glory  of  human  powers,  how  little 
>vhile  does  your  reputation  last  at  its  height,  if  it 
is  not  followed  by  an  inferior  generation*!  Cimabue 
thought  to  hold  the  field  in  painting,  and  now  Giotto 
gets  the  applause,  so  that  the  other's  fame  is  eclipsed. 
In  like  manner  one  Guido*  has  wrested  from  the 
other  the  glory  of  our  language,  and  mayhap  one 
is  already  born  who  shall  supplant  them  both. 
iWorldly  fame  is  naught  but  a  gust  of  wind,  which 
blows  now  this  way,  now  that,  and  changes  name 
as  it  shifts  quarter.  Will  your  reputation  be  might- 
ier a  thousand  years  hence,  if  you  leave  your  flesh 
in  old  age,  than  if  you  had  died  before  putting 
away  childish  things ;  in  a  thousand  years,  which  to 
eternity  is  a  shorter  span  than  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye?  Your  fame  is  as  the  color  of  the  grass,  that 
comes  and  goes ;  the  very  heat  that  brought  it  forth 
from  the  earth  withers  it." 


*  Two  poets  of  the  age,  one  of  whom  outdid  the  other,  even 
as  Giotto  outdid  Cimabue.  The  third  poet  referred  to  is 
Dante,  which  reference  is  itself,  of  course,  an  act  of  pride  and 
quite  in  keeping  with  what  Dante  evidently  regarded  as  his 
own  besetting  sin. 


DANTE  181 

And  I  to  him:  "The  truth  of  your  words  breeds 
blessed  humility  in  my  heart  and  lessens  my  swollen 
pride." 

CANTO  XII 

Virgil  bids  Dante  leave  the  shade  witH  whom  He 
is  conversing  and  make  greater  haste. 

I  straightened  up  once  more  as  is  necessary  for 
walking,  although  my  thoughts  remained  bowed 
down  and  humble. 

VIRGIIJ 

"Turn  your  eyes  downward;  It  will  be  well  for 
you.  In  order  to  beguile  the  way,  to  examine  the 
pavement  beneath  your  feet." 

This  proves  to  be  Inlaid  and  carved  with  notable 
stories  of  humility,  which  In  their  scheme,  purpose 
and  surpassing  llfelikeness — the  work  of  God  ex- 
ceeding that  of  the  greatest  human  genius  Is  the 
idea — are  counterparts  of  the  bas-reliefs  on  the  wall 
which  Dante  looked  at  In  Canto  X. 

On  one  side  I  saw  him*  who  was  created  more 
noble  than  any  other  creature,  falling  like  lightning 


*  Satan.    "I  beheld  Satan  as  lightning  fall  from  Heaven.** 
St.  Luke  X  :18. 


.182  PANTE 

from  Heaven.  On  the  other  I  saw  Brlareus*  struck 
by  a  bolt  lying  in  the  chill  of  death,  a  dead  weight 
on  the  ground. 

I  saw  Nimrod  at  the  foot  of  his  great  undertak- 
ing' as  though  bewildered,  and  looking  at  the  people 
who  had  been  proud  with  him  in  Shinar. 

I  saw  Troy  in  ashes  and  in  ruins;  O  Ilion,  how 
cast  down  and  abject  did  that  carving  make  you 


appear 


Dante,  after  a  long  enumeration  of  similar  scenes, 
comments  upon  their  wonderful  perfection  as  works 
of  art. 

What  master  of  the  brush,  or  of  the  sculptor's 
tool,  could  reproduce  the  shadows  and  the  lines 
which  here  would  dumfound  the  greatest  genius. 
Dead  seemed  the  dead,  and  the  living  seemed  alive. 
iWhoever  beheld  the  actual  events  saw  them  not 
more  clearly  than  I,  on  so  much  of  the  pavement  as 
I  went  over,  bent  down  to  look.  Now  give  rein  to 
your  pride,  and  go  your  way  with  haughty  bearing, 
you  sons  of  Eve,  and  turn  your  eyes  not  downward 
so  as  to  see  your  evil  path ! 

Suddenly  Virgil  says : 

"Lift  up  your  face;  there  is  no  more  time  for 

'  One  of  the  giants  who,  according  to  the  legend,  attempted 
to  usurp  the  power  of  Jupiter,  a  classical  counterpart  of  the 
Biblical  story  of  Lucifer. 

"The  tower  of  Babel.    Gen.  xi  :4. 


DANTE  .183 

stich  absitraction.  See  yonder  an  angel  who  is  mak- 
ing ready  to  come  toward  us.  See  how  the  sixth 
hand  maiden  of  the  day  is  returning.*  With  rever- 
ence adorn  your  acts  and  face  so  that  it  may  please 
him  to  direct  us  upward.  Remember  that  this  day; 
never  dawns  again." 

The  beautiful  creature  came  toward  us,  clothed 
in  white,  and  on  his  countenance  a  light  such  as  that 
of  the  tremulous  morning  star.  He  opened  his  arms 
and  spread  his  wings,  and  said : 

"Come :  the  stairway^  is  close  at  hand ;  from  now 
on  the  going  up  is  easy.  Few  indeed  are  they  whoi 
hear  these  tidings.  O  human  race,  born  to  fly  up- 
ward, why  do  you  fall  before  such  slight  gusts  of 
wind?'" 

He  led  us  to  where  the  rock  was  cleft;  then 
brushed  my  forehead  with  his  wings  ;'^  then  prom- 
ised me  safe  passage. 

As  Dante  and  Virgil  turn  to  this  opening,  which 
proved  to  be  narrow  and  steep,  but  less  so  than  the 
one  lower  down,  they  heard  voices  chanting : 

*  It  IS  close  upon  noon,  six  hours  of  the  day  having  passed. 

*  The  way  of  ascent  to  the  next  terrace. 

•The  slightest  breath  of  the  wind  of  temptation,  in  this 
case  a  gust  of  pride. 

*  By  this  operation  one  of  the  P's  is  removed ;  symbolically 
he  is  now  cleansed  from  the  first  of  the  seven  deadly  sins, 
namely.  Pride.  This  same  method  is  used  to  remove  the 
other  six — the  method  really  applied  to  penitent  souls  in  their 
progress  through  Purgatory,  and  to  Dante,  in  appearance 
only,  so  that  he  may  learn  what  the  system  of  purgation  is 
like. 


184  DANTE 

"Blessed  are  the  meek  in  spirit"  witH  such  sweet- 
ness as  can  not  be  portrayed  by  words.  Ah  me! 
how  unlike  are  the  approaches  here  to  those  of  Hell ; 
for  here  one  enters  with  songs,  and  there  with  angry 
wailings. 

Already  we  were  going  up  the  holy  stairs,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  I  was  lighter  far  than  I  had  felt 
myself  even  upon  the  plain,  because  of  which  I  said : 

"Master,  tell  me,  what  heavy  thing  has  been  lifted 
from  me,  so  that  I  feel  almost  no  fatigue  as  I  go 
forward  ?" 

VIRGIL 

"When  the  P's  which  remain  now  faintly  marked* 
upon  your  brow  shall  all  be  as  one  is,  wholly  erased, 
your  feet  will  be  so  driven  by  good  will  that  not 
only  shall  they  feel  no  fatigue,  but  it  shall  be  a  de- 
light to  them  to  press  upward." 

Then  I  did  like  those  who  have  something  on  their 
head  of  which  they  are  unaware,  unless  the  signs® 
made  by  others  arouse  their  suspicions;  because  of 
which  the  hand  is  used  to  learn  the  truth,  and  by 
feeling  about  finds  out  what  it  is,  and  so  does  what 
the  eye  can  not  do.  With  the  fingers  of  my  right 
hand  spread  wide  I  found  only  six  of  the  letters 
which  he  who  held  the  keys  had  stamped  upon  my 
temples ;  seeing  which  my  leader  smiled. 

*  Erasing  the  P,  or  sin  of  Pride,  has  made  the  other  six  P's 
faint,  for  Pride,  the  first  root  of  sin,  being  removed,  the  others 
Itend  to  vanish. 

•  Staring,  pointing  or  laughter. 


DANTE  J85 

CANTOS  XIII  TO  Xy 
CANTO  XIII 

^he  second  terrace,  where  the  sin  of  Envy  is 
purged  away.  Coming  out  upon  this  ledge  Dante 
remarks  it  to  be  of  less  size  than  that  of  the  Proud. 

No  figure  is  there,  nor  imagery;  thus  the  terrace 
wall  appears  bare,  and  thus  the  floor  with  only  the 
livid  hue*  of  the  stone. 

No  shades  are  to  be  seen  and  Virgil  prays  to  the 
Sun,  always  the  symbol  of  God's  illuminating  grace, 
for  guidance. 

We  had  gone  on,  because  of  our  willingness,  in 
short  time,  as  far  as  on  Earth  is  counted  for  a  mile, 
when  toward  us  we  heard  flying,  but  did  not  see, 
spirits  uttering  kindly  invitations  to  the  table  of  love. 
The  first  voice  which  passed  proclaimed  loudly: 

"They  have  no  wine."^ 

And  before  it  had  gone  entirely  out  of  hearing 
distance  another  passed  by,  crying : 


*The  symbolic  color  of  Envy. 

"John  ii  :3.  The  words  of  Mary  at  the  marriage  in  Cana. 
and  put  into  the  angel's  mouth  here  because  suggestive  of 
thoughtful  care  for  others,  the  very  opposite  of  what  envy 
produces. 


186  DANTE 

"I  am  Orestes,'"  and  it  also  did  not  stay. 
**0  Father,"  said  I,  "what  voices  are  these?"  and 
even  as  I  was  asking,  lo !  the  third,  saying : 
"Love  them  from  whom  you  have  had  evil." 

VIRGIL 

"This  circle  scourges  the  sin  of  Envy,  and  there- 
fore the  lashes  of  the  scourge  are  drawn  from  love. 
The  curb*  must  be  of  a  different  sound;  I  think, 
relying  on  my  own  judgment,  that  you  will  hear 
it  before  you  reach  the  gate  of  pardon.**  But  let 
your  eyes  search  steadfastly  through  the  air,  and 
you  will  see  people  sitting  in  front  of  us,  each 
against  the  cliff." 

Thereupon  I  opened  my  eyes  wider  than  before, 
iand,  looking  in  front  of  me,  saw  shades  clad  in 
cloaks  colored  not  unlike  the  stone.  One  was  sup- 
porting the  other  with  his  shoulder,  and  all  were 
leaning  against  the  cliff.  As  the  sun  does  not  profit 
the  blind,  so  to  the  shades  in  that  place  the  light  of 
Heaven  wills  not  to  be  liberal  of  itself,  for  an  iron 
yv'iTQ  pierces  the  eyelids  of  them  all.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  I  was  committing  an  outrage  walking  about, 

•The  words  of  Pylades,  when  he  represented  himself  as 
Orestes  in  order  to  be  put  to  death  in  his  stead.  A  classical 
instance  of  one  willing  "to  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends." 

*Curb,  here,  means  harsh  words  intended  to  be  a  deterrent 
from  sin. 

''The  stairway  or  passage  of  ascent  to  the  next  ledge,  not 
taken  until  the  P  of  Envy  has  been  erased. 


DANTE  187 

looking  at  others,  myself  unseen.*  Their  tears  were 
so  pressed  out  that  their  cheeks  were  wet.  I  turned 
to  them  and  said : 

"O  folk  assured  of  beholding  the  Light  on  high, 
which  is  the  sole  object  of  your  desire,  may  grace 
speedily  dissolve  the  scum  upon  your  consciences  so 
that  memory  shall  flow  through  them  in  clear 
stream,'  tell  me,  for  it  will  be  precious  and  accept- 
able to  me,  if  there  is  any  Italian  shade  among  you 
here.  Perchance,  too,  it  will  work  good  for  him 
if  I  learn  it." 

The  shade  of  Sapia,  a  Sienese  lady  of  rank,  an- 
swers : 

"Each  of  us  is  a  citizen  of  one  true  city,  but  you 
mean  one  who  dwelt  in  Italy  while  he  was  a  pil- 
grim.®  I  was  more  joyful  over  other's  harm  than 
my  own  good  fortune." 


•  It  would  be  hard  to  find  among  the  many  things  which 
Dante,  as  it  were,  lets  drop  concerning  kindness,  considerate- 
ness  for  others,  in  a  word,  courtesy,  a  comment  more  char- 
acteristic than  this;  comment  more  thoroughly  descriptive  of 
his  own  ideal  of  what  a  gentleman  should  be — one  who  would 
never  out  of  idle  curiosity  stare  into  the  closed  eyes  of  a  bHnd 
man.  at  a  cripple,  or  into  the  face  of  a  corpse. 

'  As  a  stream  cleansed  of  all  impurities,  such  memory  be- 
comes, after  a  shade  has  undergone  the  cleansing  torments  of 
Purgatory. 

*  Psalm  cxix  :54.  "Thy  statutes  have  been  my  songs  in  the 
house  of  my  pilgrimage."  Heb.  xi  :13,  "strangers  and  pil- 
grims on  the  earth."  The  same.  v.  16  (God),  "hath  prepared 
for  them  a  city."    Also,  see  Ephesians,  ii:19,  and  Heb.  xiii:14. 


188  DANTE 

To  prove  which  Sapia  goes  on : 

"When  I  was  past  middle  age,  my  fellow  citizens 
had  joined  battle  with  their  enemies  near  Colle,"  and 
I  prayed  God  for  that  which  He  willed.  They^" 
were  routed  and  turned  to  the  bitter  difficulties  of 
retreat ;  and  I,  watching  the  pursuit,  experienced  a 
joy  unequaled  by  any  other,  crying  out  to  God, 
'Henceforth  I  do  not  fear  Thee.*  In  my  last  hour 
I  sought  peace  with  Him,  and  even  yet  my  debt 
would  not  have  been  lessened  by  penitence,  had  not 
Pier  Pettinagno,  who  in  charity  was  sorry  for  me» 
remembered  me  in  his  holy  prayers."^^ 

CANTO  XIV 

Here,  with  other  shades  doing  penance  for  their 
sins  of  Envy,  Dante  meets  Guido  del  Duca,  of  whose 
history  little  or  nothing  is  known,  but  of  whose 
character  in  one  terse  line  Dante  has  drawn  a  con- 
summate portrait  of  envy  at  its  worst.  It  is  one  of 
those  portraits  which  are  unforgettable. 

"I  am  Guido  del  Duca.  My  blood  was  so  con- 
sumed by  envy  that  had  I  seen  a  man  becoming 

*  A  fortress  near  Siena.    The  battle  was  in  1269. 

"The  Sienese,  her  own  countrymen  of  whom  she  was 
envious  and  over  whose  misfortune  she  rejoiced. 

"This  man  was  of  the  humblest  tradesmen,  a  maker  of 
combs,  whose  honesty  of  word  and  deed  got  him  a  great 
reputation.  Sapia  at  one  time  gave  him  alms  and  for  tliat 
he  remembered  her. 


DANTE  l&, 

happy,  you  would  have  seen  me  covered  with  the 
hue  of  spite.  I  reap  that  which  I  sowed.  O  human 
race !  why  set  you  your  heart  on  those  things  which 
exclude  friendship."^ 

When  Dante  has  done  talking  with  the  shades  in 
this  group,  and  he  and  Virgil  are  once  more  alone, 
the  invisible  voices  of  the  air  again  speed  past  them, 
saying : 

"Every  one  that  findeth  me  shall  slay  me,"'  and 
rolled  away  like  thunder  when  a  storm-cloud  is  sud- 
denly rent.  Soon  as  it  had  gone  beyond  our  hear- 
ing, another  with  so  tremendous  a  clap  that  it  was 
like  the  thunder  which  comes  in  the  same  instant 
as  the  lightning:  "I  am  Aglauros  who  was  turned 
into  a  stone."^  At  this,  in  order  to  be  close  to  the 
poet,  I  took  a  step  backward  instead  of  forward. 
The  air,  now  grown  still  on  every  side,  he  said 
to  me ; 

"That  was  the  harsh  curb*  which  ought  to  keep  a 
man  within  bounds.  But  you  mortals  swallow  the 
bait,  so  that  the  hook  of  the  old  adversary  drags 
you  to  him,  and  for  this  reason  neither  restraint 


*  Longfellow  translates  this  question  and  exclamation: 
"O  human  racel  why  dost  thou  set  thy  heart 
Where  interdict  of  partnership  must  be?" 

'Gen.  iv:14. 

^Aglauros,  envious  of  her  sister,  llerse,  was  changed  into 
a  stone. 

*Scc  Note  4,  Canto  XIII. 


190  DANTE 

nor  summons  avail.  Heaven  calls  you,  and  revolves 
around  you,  displaying  its  eternal  beauties  to  you, 
and  yet  your  eye  looks  only  on  the  ground.  This 
is  why  He  who  sees  all  things  scourges  you." 

CANTO  XV 

The  poets  are  approaching  the  ascent  to  the  third 
terrace,  and  the  sun  is  near  its  setting.  Dante,  daz- 
zled by  the  light,  is  convinced  that  it  is  more  intense 
than  usual.  Holding  his  hands  to  his  eyes  he  can 
not  shut  it  out.    He  says : 

"What  is  that,  dear  father,  from  which  I  can 
not  screen  my  eyes  so  that  I  can  see,  and  which 
seems  to  be  moving  toward  us  ?" 

"Be  not  surprised  if  the  inhabitants  of  Heaven 
still  dazzle  you,"  he  replied.  "It  is  a  messenger  that 
comes  to  invite  us  to  go  up.  It  will  soon  be  so  that 
your  eyes  will  have  no  difficulty  in  gazing  at  such 
sights,  but  you  will  find  it  a  delight  as  great  as  Na- 
ture has  made  you  capable  of  experiencing." 

So  soon  as  we  had  come  near  to  the  blessed  Angel, 
with  joyful  voice,  he  said : 

"Enter  here  upon  a  stairway  much  less  steep  than 
the  others." 

We  had  begun  to  mount,  having  left  the  place 
where  we  were,*  when  we  heard  sung  behind  us, 

'The  terrace  of  the  Envious. 


DANTE  191 

"Blessed  are  the  merciful,"  and  "Rejoice  thou  that 
overcomest." 

As  they  are  climbing  the  stairs  to  the  third  ter- 
race Dante  says  to  Virgil : 

"What  did  the  shade  mean  in  speaking  of  the  ex- 
clusion of  friendship?"^ 

Wherefore  he  to  me :  "Because  your  aspirations 
are  directed  to  those  things'  which  through  sharing 
are  lessened,  Envy  moves  the  bellows  for  your  sighs.* 
But  if  the  love  of  highest  Heaven  turned  your  de- 
sires upward,  that  fear"  would  not  be  in  your  breast ; 
for  the  more  there  are  up  there  who  say,  'Ours,'  so 
much  the  more  of  good  does  each  one  possess,  and 
so  much  the  more  of  love  bums  in  those  mansions."" 

"I  am  further  from  being  satisfied,"  said  I,  "than 
if  I  had  kept  silent,  and  more  doubt  gathers  in  my 


*  Canto  XIV,  Note  1. 

•The  things  of  the  world;  money  and  goods. 

*  It  means  that  envy  furnishes  the  breath  for  sighs,  which 
are  the  sign  of  the  envy  felt  by  one  who  has  divided  his  pos- 
sessions and  hence  no  longer  has  the  whole.  Then  follows  a 
remarkable  discourse  on  the  sharing  of  good,  and  the  making 
and  preserving  of  friendship,  which  Bacon  said  doubled  joy 
and  cut  sorrow  in  two. 

*  Of  sharing. 

'  "Since  good,  the  more 
Gammunicated,  the  more  abundant  grows." 

Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  v.  73. 
"True  love  in  this  differs  from  gold  and  clay 
That  to  divide  is  not  to  take  away." 

Shelley, 
The  greater  the  number  to  enjoy  the  bliss  of  Heaven  the 
greater  is  the  sum  of  bliss  to  be  enjoyed. 


192  DANTE 

mind.  How  can  it  be  that  a  good  distributed  makes 
more  possessors  richer  than  if  it  be  owned  by  a 
few?" 

And  he  to  me :  "Because  you  fix  your  mind  only 
on  earthly  things,  you  gather  darkness  from  light  it- 
self. That  infinite  and  ineffable  Good  which  is  on 
high,  runs  to  love  as  a  sunbeam  to  a  lucid  body.'' 
It  gives  itself  as  much  as  it  finds  zeal  for  the  gift, 
so  that  in  whatever  measure  love  exists,  the  more 
does  the  Eternal  Glory  spread  over  it.  And  the 
more  there  are  who  fix  their  hearts  on  high,  the 
more  there  are  to  exert  love,  and  the  more  of  love 
there  is,  and,  like  a  mirror,  one  reflects  it  to  the 
other.  If  my  argument  does  not  satisfy  your  crav- 
ing, you  shall  see  Beatrice,  and  she  will  completely 
answer  this,  and  every  other  question  that  troubles 
you.  Strive  only  that  soon  the  five  remaining  P's 
be  healed,  by  penitence,  as  two  already  are." 

As  I  was  on  the  point  of  saying:  "You  sat- 
isfy me,"  I  saw  that  I  had  reached  the  next  cir- 
cle, so  that  my  eager  eyes  made  me  keep  quiet.* 
There  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  was  rapt  in  an 
ecstatic  vision,  and  that  I  saw  many  people  in 
a  temple,  and  at  the  threshold  a  Lady,  with  the 


^The  love  of  God  is  given  to  men  in  such  degree  as  they 
have  power  to  receive  it,  just  as  light  makes  objects  bright  in 
proportion  as  they  can  receive  it  into  themselves  and  so  be- 
come brilliant. 

"  His  keenness  for  new  sights  kept  him  from  spending  fur- 
ther time  in  talk. 


DANTE  193 

gentle  manner  of  a  mother,  saying :  "My  son,  why 
hast  thou  thus  dealt  with  us?  Behold  thy  father 
and  I  have  sought  thee  sorrowing."  And  as  she 
ceased  speaking  the  vision  disappeared. 

Then  I  beheld  another  lady,  her  cheeks  wet  with 
the  tears  which  grief  distils  when  it  comes  of  deep 
resentment  against  others.  She  was  saying:  "If 
you  are  lord  of  the  city®  about  whose  name  there 
was  such  contention  among  the  gods,  the  city 
whence  shines  forth  all  wisdom,  avenge  yourself, 
O  Pisistratus,  on  those  bold  arms  which  embraced 
our  daughter."^"  And  her  lord  appeared  kind  and 
gentle,  and  to  answer  her,  with  temperate  look : 

"What  shall  we  do  to  those  who  wish  us  ill  if  we 
condemn  those  who  love  us  ?'* 

Next  I  saw  people  enflamed  with  the  fire  of  anger, 
slaying  a  young  man^^  with  stones,  and  crying 
loudly  to  one  another,  "Kill !  Kill !"  And  I  saw 
him  bowed  down  by  death,  which  was  already  upon 
him,  yet  even  in  such  straits  his  eyes  continued  to 
implore  Heaven,  praying  to  the  Almighty  Lord, 
with  the  look  which  begets  compassion,  that  He 
would  forgive  his  persecutors. 

These  three  visions  are,  of  course,  introduced  to 


•  Athens. 

"A  young  man  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  Pisistratus 
kissed  her  in  public,  whereat  the  mother  of  the  girl  begged 
her  husband,  Lord  of  Athens,  to  have  the  young  man  pun- 
ished. 
•    "  St.  Stephen.    Acts  vii  :54  et  seq. 


194  DANTE 

display  notable  instances  of  forgiveness,  the  opposite 
virtue  to  the  vice  of  anger,  which  this  terrace  pun- 
ishes. The  visions  also  provide  the  stage  means, 
in  the  narrative,  by  which  Dante  is  conveyed  from 
the  terrace  of  Envy  to  that  of  Anger. 

We  were  moving  on  through  the  vesper  time, 
peering  forward  into  the  face  of  the  late  and  dazf 
zling  sunbeams  as  far  as  our  eyes  could  reach,  when 
of  a  sudden,  little  by  little,  a  smoke,  dark  as  night, 
came  rolling  toward  us ;  nor  was  there  any  place  of 
shelter.    It  blinded  our  eyes  and  choked  us. 

CANTOS  XVI  AND  XVII 
CANTO  XVI 

The  third  terrace.  The  darkness  and  bitterness 
of  anger,  of  wrath  in  the  heart  of  man,  is  here  sym- 
bolized by  dense  smoke,  the  result  of  burning,  liter- 
ally; figuratively,  the  befogging  and  taking  away  of 
good  understanding.  Like  anger,  smoke  is  irritat- 
ing to  the  senses. 

Gloom  of  Hell,  or  of  night  unlit  by  a  single  star, 
beneath  a  poor  sky,  as  darkened  by  clouds  as  possi- 
ble, never  made  for  my  eyes  so  dense  a  veil,  or  one 
of  such  rough  quality  to  feel,  as  the  smoke  which 
there  enveloped  us.     In  it  one  could  not  keep  his 


DANTE  195 

eyes  open.  Because  of  which  my  wise  and  faithful 
guide  came  close  to  my  side  and  offered  me  his 
shoulder.  Even  as  a  blind  man  goes  behind  his  es- 
cort, in  order  not  to  lose  his  way,  or  run  into  any 
thing  which  might  hurt  or  kill  him,  so  I  went 
through  that  bitter  and  foul  air,  listening  to  my 
leader,  who  said  only:  "Take  heed  not  to  get  sep- 
arated from  me." 

I  heard  voices,  and  each  of  them  seemed  to  be 
praying  for  peace  and  mercy  to  the  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  away  sins.  "Lamb  of  God,"  was  their 
only  beginning.  They  kept  perfect  unison  of  word 
and  measure,  so  that  there  was  the  appearance  of 
entire  agreement  among  them.^ 

"Master,"  said  I,  "are  they  spirits  that  I  hear?" 
And  he  to  me: 

"You  apprehend  rightly,  and  they  go  loosening 
the  knot  of  anger." 

A  conversation  between  Dante  and  one  of  the 
shades  follows,  and  Dante  asks  the  way,  and  the 
name  of  him  who  tells  it. 

"I  was  a  Lombard,  and  was  called  Marco.  I 
knew  the  world,  and  I  loved  that  virtue,  at  which 
nowadays  no  one  aims.*    For  mounting  upward,  you 

'  The  opposite  of  that  discord  of  words  and  tone  where  the 
angry  are  quarreling. 

'  Toward  which  at  present  every  one  has  unbent  his  bow : 
DO  one  aims  at  virtue  with  the  bow  of  desire. 


196  DANTE 

are  holding  the  right  course."    This  was  his  answer; 
then  he  added : 

"I  pray  you,  to  pray  for  me,  when  you  shall  be  on 
high." 

DANTE 

"I  give  you  my  word  that  I  will  do  what  you  de- 
sire." 

He  then  goes  on  to  ask  Marco  the  cause  why  the 
world  is  so  full  of  vice,  saying  that  one  man  ascribes 
it  to  the  influence  of  the  stars,  and  another  to  orig- 
inal sin.  Marco  then  discourses  on  these  matters  in 
a  wonderfully  interesting  and  clear  fashion;  a  dis- 
course, really,  on  the  freedom  of  the  will — that  cor- 
ner-stone of  Dante's  faith  and  philosophy. 

MARCO 

"Brother,  the  world  is  blind,  and  truly  you  are  of 
it.  You  on  Earth  ascribe  every  cause  upward  to  the 
heavens'  only,  as  if  they  of  necessity  governed  all 
things.  Were  this  so,  free  will  would  be  destroyed 
in  you,  and  there  would  be  no  justice  in  having  joy 
for  good,  and  grief  for  evil.  The  heavens  do  give 
the  first  impulse*  to  your  actions,  I  do  not  say  to 
all  of  them;  but  supposing  I  did  say  so,  light  has 
been  given  you  to  distinguish  between  right  and 
wrong,  and  free  will,  which,  though  it  may  grow 

*  To  the  influence  of  the  stars, 

*  At  birth. 


DANTE  197 

weary  in  its  first  resistance  to  the  heavens,  finally, 
if  it  is  but  nourished  well,  overcomes  everything." 
Though  free  to  choose,  you  are  subject  to  a  greater 
power  and  to  a  better  nature,  and  this  is  what  cre- 
ates in  you  the  mind  which  the  stars  can  not  control. 
Therefore,  if  the  present  generation  goes  wrong,  the 
cause  is  in  you,  and  in  you  it  must  be  sought.  Of 
this  I  will  now  be  a  true  expounder. 

"Forth  from  the  hand  of  Him  who  delights  in  it 
before  even  it  exists,  like  a  small  maid  that  cries 
and  laughs  in  baby  play,  issues  the  little  soul,  so 
simple  that  it  knows  nothing  save  that,  proceeding 
from  a  glad  Maker,  it  turns  eagerly  to  whatever 
gives  it  pleasure.  At  first  it  tastes  the  savor  of 
trivial  good,  and,  deceived  by  this,  runs  after  it,  if 
guide  or  bridle  do  not  check  its  inclination."  Hence 
it  was  necessary  to  establish  law  as  a  restraining 
curb;  needful  to  have  a  king  who  should  at  least 
discern  the  tower  of  the  true  city.*^  The  laws  exist, 
but  who  administers  them?  No  one.  Wherefore 
easily  may  you  perceive  that  evil  government  is  the 
cause  of  the  world's  guilt,  and  not  that  nature  is 


*  As  a  man  by  right  care  and  persistence  may  overcome  the 
tendency  to  disease,  say  consumption,  inherited  or  acquired, 
so  might  a  man,  by  exercise  of  will,  overcome  the  influences 
which  the  stars  at  birth  exerted  over  him. 

*The  child  at  first  attracted  by  trivial  good,  pursues  it  if  no 
one  shows  it  the  difference  between  this  and  lasting  good; 
in  a  word,  the  difference  between  the  things  which  please  the 
senses  for  the  passing  moment,  and  the  things  which  are 
precious  and  lasting. 

'The  city  of  God,  the  tower  or  bulwark  of  which  is  justice. 


198  DANTE 

corrupt  in  you.*  Rome,*  which  made  the  world 
good,  was  used  to  have  two  Suns,^**  which  Hghted 
up  both  one  road  and  the  other;  that  of  the  world, 
and  that  of  God.  One  has  extinguished  the  other. 
The  sword  is  joined  to  the  crozier,^^  and  being 
joined,  both  must  of  necessity  go  wrong,  because 
one  no  longer  fears  the  other.  If  you  do  not  believe 
me,  consider  the  fruit^^  for  by  it  every  plant  is 
known. 

"May  God  be  with  you !  I  bear  you  company  no 
farther.  Behold  the  brightness  already  glistening 
white  through  the  smoke.  I  must  depart — ^the  An- 
gel is  there — before  he  sees  me."^^ 

So  he  turned  back,  and  would  no  longer  hear  me. 

CANTO  XVII 

The  sun  is  setting  as  the  poets  come  out  of  the 
smoke.  Dante  has  another  ecstatic  dream  in  which 
he  is  shown  instances  of  the  results  of  anger.  He  is 
wakened  by  a  light  far  brighter  than  that  which  the 
sun  sheds  on  Earth. 


'  Not  original  sin. 

'Rome  reformed  the  world  by  its  law  and  order;  its  good 
government. 

"  Pope  and  Emperor,  a  spiritual  and  a  temporal  ruler, 

"The  crook,  symbol  of  the  Pope's  shepherding  of  the 
faithful. 

"The  passage  means,  behold  the  result,  the  fearful  condi- 
tion into  which  Italy  has  now  fallen. 

"  Marco's  time  is  not  yet  up  for  the  ledge  of  Wratlv 


^  DANTE  199 

I  was  turning  to  see  where  I  was,  when  a  voice 
said :  "Here  is  the  ascent."  And  my  master  said : 
"This  is  a  divine  spirit  who,  unasked,  is  directing  us 
how  to  go  up,  and  in  his  own  Hght  hides  himself. 
He  deals  with  us  as  a  man  does  with  himself,  for 
he  who  sees  the  need,  and  waits  to  be  asked,  is  al- 
ready preparing  to  refuse.  Let  us  make  our  steps 
accord  with  such  an  invitation;  let  us  hasten  to  as- 
cend before  it  grows  dark,  for  after  that  it  would 
not  be  possible,  until  the  day  returns." 

As  soon  as  I  was  on  the  first  step,^  I  felt  the  mo- 
tion of  a  wing  close  by  me,  and  a  fanning  on  my 
face,  and  I  heard : 

"Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,  who  are  without 
sinful  anger." 

Already  the  fading  light  of  the  setting  sun  was 
so  high  above  us^  that  the  stars  were  twinkling  all 
around  us. 

**0  my  strength,  what  is  it  makes  you  melt 
away?"  I  said  to  myself,  for  I  felt  that  there  was  no 
power  left  in  my  legs.  We  were  now  at  the  top  of 
the  stair,  and  were  motionless,  like  a  ship  when  it  has 
reached  the  shore.  For  a  time  I  listened  if  I  might 
hear  anything  in  the  new  circle.  Then  I  turned  to 
my  master,  and  said : 

4 

"Dear  father,  tell  me  what  vice  is  purged  on  the 


*  Of  the  stairway  to  the  next  terrace. 

*To  be  seen  only  where  caught  by  the  peak  of  the  raottn- 
tain  as  it  roee  high  above  them. 


200  '  DANTE  , 

terrace  where  we  now  arc.    I  f  our  feet  be  stopped, 
let  not  your  speech." 

This  is  the  ledge  of  the  slothful.  Virgil  tells 
Dante  that  the  mere  love  of  what  is  good,  passive 
love,  is  really  sin — the  sin  of  sloth;  i.  e.,  love,  in- 
active, or,  not  pursuing  its  object  with  all  its 
strength.  He  then  goes  on  to  show  how  love,  or 
desire,  is  the  seed  of  every  good  and  evil  act,  per- 
formed by  man. 

"Neither  Creator  nor  creature,"  he  began,  "was 
ever  without  love,  either  natural,  or  of  the  mind,* 
and  this  you  know.  The  natural  is  always  without 
error;  but  the  other  may  err  because  of  an  evil  ob- 
ject,* or  from  want  of  zeal,  or  too  much  zeal.  While 
love  is  directed  on  the  highest  goods,*  and  with 
moderation  upon  others,^  it  can  not  be  the  cause  of 
sinful  pleasure.  But  when  it  is  set  on  evil,'  or  pur- 
sues what 'is  good  with  more  zeal  or  less  than  it 
ought,®  then  against  the  Creator  his  own  creature  is 
working.  Hence  you  may  understand  how  love 
must  be  the  seed  of  all  your  virtues,  as  well  as  of 
every  action  that  deserves  punishment." 


•This  love,  or  longing,  is  either  inherent  in  the  human  be- 
ing, as  the  longing  or  desire  for  food  on  the  part  of  an  infant, 
or  it  is  a  desire  which  results  from  the  rational  or  reasoning 
facuhy  of  the  mind. 

•  As  its  aim. 

'  God,  and  the  things  of  Heaven. 

•  The  things  of  the  world. 

'  Has  desire  for  what  is  bad. 

•  Pursues  spiritual  good  too  little,  or  worldly  good,  too  much* 


DANTE  201 


CANTO  xvin 


The  fourth  terrace.  Virgil  continues  to  discourse 
on  love  and  free  will.    He  says  to  Dante : 

"The  mind,  created  prone  to  love,  turns  readily  to 
anything  that  pleases  it,  so  soon  as  pleasure  rouses 
it  to  action.  Your  faculty  of  apprehension  draws 
an  image  from  a  real  object,  and  displays  it  within 
you,  so  that  it  makes  the  mind  turn  to  it.*  If,  thus 
turned,  the  mind  inclines  toward  the  image,  that  in- 
clination is  love." 

Dante  is  satisfied  with  this  definition,  but  tells 
Virgil  that  he  does  not  understand  how,  since  in  life 
objects  for  love  are  offered  on  all  sides,  and  since 
the  soul  is  endowed,  at  its  creation,  with  a  propen- 
sity for  loving, — how,  these  conditions  holding  true, 
man  deserves  praise  or  blame  for  loving. 

VIRGIL 

"As  far  as  reason  is  able  to  see  I  can  explain  to 


*0f    imagination    Shakespeare    says,    Midsummer   Night's 
Dream,  v.  1, 

"If  it  would  but  apprehend  some  joy 

It  comprehends  some  bringer  of  that  joy." 

Through  the  agency  of  the  senses,  an  idea  or  image,  based 
upon  some  reality  of  life,  is  presented  to  the  mind.  If  the 
mind  turns  enthusiastically  to  this,  the  turning  is  love. 


202  DANTE 

you.  Beyond  this  you  must  look  to  Beatrice,  for 
then  it  becomes  a  matter  of  faith.^  The  essence  of 
man's  nature/  which  is  distinct  from  matter,  yet 
joined  to  it,  has  a  certain  inherent  power  which  is 
not  to  be  recognized  unless  it  is  in  operation,  nor 
shows  itself  save  by  its  effect,  as  life  in  plants  by 
green  leaves.  This  is  why  man  does  not  know 
whence  his  first  instincts  come,  nor  whence  his  first 
appetites,  which  are  in  him  just  as  the  instinct  to 
make  honey  is  in  the  bee,  and  this  first  choice  can 
not  merit  praise  or  censure.*  Now  in  order  that 
with  this  first  choice  all  others  may  be  harmonized, 
you  are  given  reason,  and  it  should  govern  your 
decisions.^  This  is  the  ground  of  your  deserts,  ac- 
cording as  you  gather  in  and  winnow  good  and  evil 
desires.  Those  who  in  reasoning  went  to  the  bot- 
tom of  this  subject^  took  careful  heed  of  this  innate 
freedom  of  tlie  will,  and,  as  a  result,  they  gave 
morals  to  the  world.  If  we  assume  then,  that  every 
desire  which  you  have  comes  of  necessity,  in  you 
exists  also  the  power  to  check  it.  This  noble  fac- 
ulty Beatrice  understands  as  free  will,  and  therefore 


*A   matter   that   transcends   the   highest   reach   of   human 
reason  and  therefore  not  to  be  grasped  or  explained  by  Virgil. 
•The  form — essential  part. 

*  See  Canto  XVII. 

'  Man  is  given  the  right  to  choose,  freedom  of  the  will,  and 
reason,  by  which  to  decide  what  course,  or  thing,  he  will 
choose ;  hence  his  accountability  for  his  choice,  and  for  the 
acts,  which  represent  his  choice. 

•  Aristotle,  Plato,  and  the  ancient  philosophers  generally. 


DANTE  203 

see  that  you  bear  it  in  mind  if  she  begins  to  speak  of 
it  to  you.'" 

For  a  time  Dante  grows  drowsy,  and  then  is  re- 
called to  his  full  senses  by  throngs  of  shades  ad- 
vancing and  moving  with  great  rapidity. 

They  were  soon  upon  us  because  the  whole  vast 
crowd  was  moving  at  a  run ;  and  two  in  front  cried 
out,  weeping :  "Mary  ran  in  haste  unto  the  hill  coun- 
try;^ and  Caesar,  to  subdue  Ilerda,  whirled  down 
upon  Marseilles,  and  then  darted  away  to  Spain."' 

"Haste!  Haste!  that  you  waste  no  time  because 
of  lukewarm  love;"  the  others,  following,  cried: 
"So  that  zeal  for  right  doing  may  again  make  grace 
green. 

Virgil  asks  them  the  way  to  the  stairs  leading  to 
the  next  terrace,  and  one  answers : 

"Follow  us  and  you  will  find  the  opening.  We 
are  so  filled  with  the  desire  to  move  on  that  we  can 


'  In  Paradise,  V.  19,  et  seq.,  Beatrice  says :  "The  greatest 
gift  which  God  in  His  generosity  bestowed  in  creating,  and 
tliat  which  most  conforms  to  His  own  goodness,  and  that 
which  He  sets  most  store  by,  was  the  freedom  of  the  will, 
with  which  the  creatures  that  have  intelligence,  they  all  and 
they  only  were  and  are  endowed." 

•  Luke  i.  39. 

•These  instances  of  zeal  are  here  recited  by  those  whose 
sin  has  been  sloth. 

"Revive  grace  which  through  their  negligence  or  sloth  has 
withered. 


204  DANTE 

not  pause;  but  pardon  us,  if  you  should  take  what 
is  our  duty,  to  be  a  lack  of  courtesy." 

When  the  shades  have  gone  far  ahead  Dante 
again  grows  drowsy,  and  at  last : 

I  closed  my  eyes  in  a  reverie,  and  my  meditation 
was  changed  into  a  dream, 

CANTO  XX 

The  fifth  terrace.  On  it  Dante  finds  Hugh  Capet, 
who  talks  about  the  avarice  of  his  descendants. 

We  had  already  departed  from  him  and  were 
striving  to  cover  as  much  ground  as  our  strength 
would  allow,  when  I  felt  the  mountain  tremble,  like 
a  thing  that  is  falling,  at  which  such  a  chill  came 
over  me  as  comes  to  him  who  is  going  to  his  death. 
Surely  Delos  did  not  shake  so  violently  before  La- 
tona  made  her  nest  in  it  to  give  birth  to  the  twin 
eyes  of  Heaven.*  Then  from  all  sides  rose  up  so 
loud  a  cry  that  my  master  drew  nearer  to  me,  say- 
ing :  "Have  no  fear  so  long  as  I  guide  you." 

"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,"*  all  were  saying, 
so  far  as  I  could  make  out  from  those  near  enough 
for  me  to  distinguish  their  words.  We  stood  still, 
and  in  suspense,  like  the  shepherds  who  first  heard 

'  Apollo  and  Diana,  the  Sun  and  the  Moon. 

*  And  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men.    Luke  ii.  14. 


DANTE  205 

that  song,  until  tlie  trembling  ceased,  and  the  hymn 
was  done.  Then  we  resumed  our  sacred  journey, 
looking  at  the  shades  lying  on  the  ground,  now  re- 
turned to  their  accustomed  lament.  Never,  if  my 
memory  errs  not,  did  ignorance  of  any  subject  make 
me  so  keen  to  know  as  I  became  when  I  began  to 
think  about  this  thing.  Nor,  because  of  our  haste, 
did  I  dare  ask;  nor,  of  myself,  could  I  discover  any- 
thing, so  I  went  on,  timid  and  thoughtful. 

CANTO  XXI 

The  poets  are  now  met  by  a  shade  who  says :  "My 
brothers,  may  God  give  you  peace." 

VIRGIL 

"Tell  us,  if  you  know,  why  just  now  the  mountain 
shook  so,  and  why,  down  to  its  sea-girt  foot,  all  the 
souls  in  unison  gave  forth  a  shout." 

SHADE 

"The  sacred  rule^  of  the  mountain  can  experience 
nothing  which  is  contrary  to  its  regulations,  or 
which  is  beyond  the  customary.  This  place  is  free 
from  every  change.  That  only  which  went  forth 
from  Heaven,  does  Heaven  receive  into  itself  again.* 

*  Government 

•  The  souL 


206  DANTE 

\ 

Nothing  else  could  cause  the  trembling.  And  this 
is  why  neither  rain,  nor  hail,  nor  snow,  nor  dew, 
nor  frost,  are  seen  higher  up  than  the  three  steps  ;'| 
neither  heavy  clouds  or  light,  nor  lightning,  nor  the 
daughter  of  Thaumas*  who,  yonder  upon  Earth,' 
often  changes  quarter.  No  wind  blows  higher  up 
than  the  three  steps  just  spoken  of,  on  which  the 
vicar  of  Peter  sets  his  feet.  It  may  perhaps  tremble, 
more  or  less,  lower  down;  but  it  never  shakes  up 
here  because  of  the  wind  that  is  hidden  in  the  Earth,' 
I  know  not  how.  In  this  place  it  trembles  when  a 
soul  feels  itself  to  be  pure,  so  that  it  rises,  or  moves 
to  ascend  on  high;*  and  this  shout  goes  with  it' 
I  who  have  lain  in  this  woe  five  hundred  years  and 
more,  only  just  now  felt  a  free  volition  for  a  better 
seat.  This  is  why  you  felt  the  mountain  quake,  and 
heard  its  pious  spirits  render  praise  unto  the  Lord.", 

Virgil  now  asks  the  shade  who  he  is. 

SHADE 

"At  the  time  when  the  good  Titus,  with  the  aid 
of  the  Most  High  King,  avenged^  the  wounds  from 

•  The  gate  of  Purgatory. 
*Iris,  the  rainbow. 

•  It  was  commonly  believed  that  the  wind,  hidden  inside  the 
Elarth,  caused  earthquakes. 

•  When  a  soul  has  had  the  seven  P's  removed,  the  seven  sins 
washed  away,  then,  free,  and  of  its  own  accord,  it  rises,  and 
all  Purgatory  shouts  for  joy — singing,  "We  praise  thee,  O 
God,"  and  the  rest  of  the  Te  Deum. 

•  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Emperor  Titus. 


DANTE  207, 

Svhich  gushed  forth  the  blood  sold  by  Judas,  I  was 
famous  upon  Earth  with  the  name*  that  lasts  longest, 
and  bestows  most  honor,  but  not  as  yet,  through 
faith,  become  a  Christian.  So  sweet  was  my  genius 
for  song  that  Rome  drew  me  to  herself,  although  I 
was  a  native  of  Toulouse,"  and  there  I  was  deemed 
worthy  to  have  my  brows  crowned  with  myrtle.  In 
the  world  men  yet  call  me  Statins.  I  sang  of 
Thebes,  and  then  of  the  great  Achilles,  but  I  sank^° 
by  the  way  with  my  second  labor.  The  origins  of 
my  flame  were  the  sparks  from  that  divine  fire, 
v.'hereat  more  than  a  thousand  poets  have  been  kin- 
dled. I  refer  to  the  ^neid,  which  in  poetry  was 
mother  and  nurse  to  me.  Without  it  I  should  not 
have  balanced  a  drachm's  weight  in  the  scale;  and 
to  have  lived  yonder,  when  Virgil  was  alive,  I  would 
consent  to  one  year  more  of  penance  than  I  need  to 
be  set  free  from  banishment."  ^^ 

These  words  made  Virgil  turn  to  me  with  a  look 
which  said  silently:  "Be  silent!"  but  our  wills  can 
not  accomplish  everything;  for  laughter  and  tears 
[follow  so  close  upon  the  feelings,  in  which  each  has 
its  origin,  that  the  more  truthful  a  man  is  the  less 
they  obey  his  will.     In  spite  of  warning  I  smiled, 


(    '  The  name  of  poet 

'This  is  a  mistake  not  corrected  in  Dante's  time.     Statius 
was  born  in  Naples. 

"  Died  while  writing  the  AchiUeid. 
'    *  Set  free  to  go  to  Heaven,  from  which,  in  Purgatory,  every 
one  regards  himself  as  banished. 


208  DANTE 

like  a  man  who  makes  a  sign.  At  this  the  shade 
stopped  speaking  and  looked  me  square  in  the  eyes, 
there  where  our  feehngs  show  plainest.  And  it 
said: 

"So  that  you  may  bring  your  great  undertaking*' 
to  a  happy  end,  why  did  your  face  wear  that 
amused  smile  just  now?" 

Now  am  I  caught  on  one  side  and  the  other ;  one 
bids  me  keep  silence;  the  other  speak,  because  of 
which  I  sigh,  and  my  master,  understanding,  said: 

"Fear  not  to  speak ;  tell  him  what  he  asks  so  ear- 
nestly." 

Whereon  I : 

"Mayhap  you  are  amazed,  ancient  spirit,  at  my 
smile,  but  I  would  have  yet  greater  amazement  seize 
you.  This  one  who  is  guiding  me  heavenward,  is 
that  very  Virgil  from  whom  you  derived  the  power 
to  sing  of  men  and  of  gods.  If  you  believe  there 
was  another  cause  for  my  smile,  put  it  aside  as  un- 
true, and  be  assured  it  was  entirely  the  result  of 
those  words  you  spoke  of  him." 

Already  he  was  bending  down  to  embrace  the  feet 
of  my  teacher,  but  Virgil  said  to  him:  "Brother, 
do  it  not,  for  you  are  a  shade  and  you  see  a  shade." ^' 

And  Statins  answered,  rising:  "Now  can  you 
comprehend  the  intensity  of  the  love  with  which  I 


"Journey  through  the  universe. 

**  "What  shadows  we  are  and  what  shadows  we  pursue.' 
Burke. 


DANTE  209 

burn  for  you,  when  I  forget  our  emptiness  and  treat 
spirits  like  solid  realities." 

CANTO  XXII 

The  sixth  terrace. 

By  this  time  the  angel  was  left  behind  us,  the 
angel  who  had  directed  us  to  the  sixth  circle,  after 
erasing  one  more  P  from  my  forehead.  And  he  had 
said  to  us  that  those  who  have  their  hearts  set  on 
righteousness  are  "blessed,"  concluding  with  the 
words  "who  thirst,"  without  the  rest.^ 

Virgil  begs  Statius  to  tell  him  how  it  can  be  that 
he,  of  all  people,  should  be  suffering  for  the  vice  of 
avarice.  Statius  answers  that  it  is  not  for  avarice 
but  for  its  opposite,  prodigality,  that  he  is  on  this 
terrace.    He  says : 

"I  would  have  you  know  that  avarice  was  too 
much  lacking  in  me,  and  for  this  excess,  thousands 
of  months  have  I  been  punished  here."'' 

Virgil  now  says  to  Statius  that,  judging  by  the 
matter  in  his  famous  poem,  it  does  not  appear  that 
at  the  time  of  writing  it  he  had  been  converted. 

*Tlie  angel  has  omitted  that  part  of  the  beatitude  which 
includes  the  word  "hunjTcr."  This  is  to  be  used  a  little  higher 
up  when  they  actually  reach  the  sixth  terrace  and  the  gluttons. 

'  Statius  showed  no  measure  in  his  spending,  giving  and 
throwing  away  what  he  should  have  kept,  which  is  as  bad  as 
hoarding  all  one  has,  and  giving  nothing. 


210  DANTE 

VIRGIL 

"If  this  is  true,  what  sun,  or  what  candles'  did  so 
dispel  your  darkness  that  thereafter  you  set  sail  in 
the  wake  of  the  Fisherman?"* 

STATIUS 

"You  first  showed  me  the  road  to  Parnassus,  to 
drink  of  its  fountains,  and  then  you  lit  my  way 
to  God.  You  did  like  the  man  that  walks  in  the 
night  and  carries  the  light  behind  him,  helping  not 
himself,  but  making  those  wise  who  follow,  when 
you  said : 

"  'The  last  great  age,  foretold  by  sacred  rhymes, 
Renews  its  finish'd  course :  Saturnian  times 
Roll  round  again:    .    .    . 
A  golden  progeny  from  heaven  descends.*^ 

"Through  you  I  became  a  poet,  through  you  a 
Christian.  But  in  order  that  you  may  see  more 
clearly  what  I  am  outlining,  I  will  set  my  hand  to 
filling  in  the  colors.®  Already  the  whole  world  was 
teeming  with  the  true  faifh,  sown  by  the  messen- 

*  Heavenly,  or  earthly  lights. 

*St.  Peter. 

"  Dryden's  translation  of  the  fourth  Eclogue  of  Virgil.  As 
early  as  the  fourth  century  these  lines,  the  prophecy  of  the 
Cumsean  Sibyl,  were  taken  to  have  been  a  prophecy  of  the 
coming  of  Christ 

'  He  means  that  he  will  now  give  a  fuller  and  more  under- 
standable account  of  his  conversion. 


DANTE  211 

gers  of  the  eternal  realm,  and  your  words,  just 
quoted,  were  so  much  in  harmony  with  the  new 
preachers,  that  I  acquired  the  habit  of  going  to  hear 
them/  From  this  time  they  came  to  seem  to  me  so 
holy,  that  when  Domitian  persecuted  them,  their 
lamentations  made  me  weep.  And  so  long  as  I 
remained  in  the  world,  I  aided  them,  and  their  up- 
right practises  made  me  scorn  all  other  sects.  Be- 
fore I  had  led  the  Greeks,  in  my  poem,^  as  far  as 
the  rivers  of  Thebes,  I  was  baptized:  but,  through 
fear,  I  remained  a  secret  Christian,  for  long  time 
making  pretense  of  paganism.  My  lukewarmness® 
caused  me  to  tread  the  fourth  terrace  for  more  than 
four  hundred  years." 

Virgil  and  Statins  walk  on  together,  talking  of 
poetry,  Dante  gathering  hints  for  his  own. 

But  soon  the  pleasant  talk  was  interrupted  by  a 
tree  which  we  found  in  the  middle  of  the  road, 
with  apples  that  were  sweet  and  good  to  smell. 
And  as  a  fir-tree  tapers  upward  from  branch  to 
branch,  so  this  tapered  downward,^"  in  order,  I 
think,  that  no  one  might  climb  it.  At  the  side, 
on  which  our  path  was  walled,"  a  clear  stream  fell 
from  the  high  cliff  and  sprinkled  the  foliage  below. 

•  The  Apostles. 

•  The  Thebiad. 

•  Sloth. 

'"  Had  the  shape  of  an  elm  tree. 

"  The  wall  of  the  next  terrace  above,  from  which  the 
water  fell. 


212  DANTE 

The  two  poets  drew  close  to  the  tree  and  a  voice 
from  among  the  leaves  cried  out : 

"Of  this  food  you  shall  have  lack." 

Then  it  said ; 

"Mary  thought  more,  how  the  marriage  feast^* 
should  be  properly  set  forth,  and  complete,  than  of 
her  own  mouth,"  which  now  intercedes  in  your  be- 
half; and  the  dames  of  ancient  Rome  were  satis- 
fied with  water  for  their  drink;**  and  Daniel  de- 
spised food  and  got  wisdom/"  The  primeval  age 
was  fair  as  gold ;  with  hunger  it  made  acorns  savory, 
and  with  thirst  every  streamlet  nectar.  Honey  and 
locusts  were  the  food  with  which  the  Baptist  was 
fed  in  the  wilderness,  because  of  which  he  is  in 
glory,  and  so  great,  as  is  by  the  Gospel  revealed  to 
you."" 

CANTO  XXIII 

While  I  was  straining  my  eyes  to  look  deep 
among  the  green  leaves,  just  as  he  does  who  wastes 
his  time  hunting  the  little  bird,  my  more  than  father 
said  to  me : 


"  The  marriage  in  Cana. 

"Than  of  what  she  should  herself  eat 

"  It  was  said  that  of  old  the  Roman  women  did  not  drink 
wine. 

"  Daniel  i.  8  to  17. 

"  Matthew  xi.  11. 

This  series  of  magnificent  examples  of  temperance  is  pro- 
claimed by  the  mystic  voice  among  the  leaves,  as  proper  to 
be  heard  Ijy  son'.s  purging  away  the  vice  of  gluttony.  It  con- 
sists of  alternating  instances  taken  from  sacred  and  classical 


DANTE  213 

"Come,  my  son,  the  time  that  is  assigned  to  us 
must  be  more  usefully  spent." 

I  turned  my  eyes,  and  not  less  quickly  my  steps, 
toward  the  Sages*  who  were  conversing  in  a  way 
that  made  going  a  pleasure.  And  of  a  sudden !  both 
as  a  lament  and  as  a  song,  I  heard :  "O  Lord,  open 
thou  my  lips,"^  so  sung  that  it  gave  rise  both  to  joy 
and  sorrow. 

"My  revered  father,  what  is  it  that  I  hear?"  and 
he: 

"Shades,  perchance,  moving  past  us  as  they  work 
out  their  debt  of  sin." 

As  pilgrims,  wrapt  in  thought,  when  they  over- 
take strangers  on  the  road,  turn,  but  do  not  stop, 
so,  moving  at  a  quicker  pace  than  we,  a  group  of 
souls,  silent  and  devout,  overtook  and  passed  us, 
gazing  back  in  astonishment  upon  us.  Each  was 
dark  and  hollow  around  the  eyes,  pale  of  feature, 
and  so  wasted  that  the  skin  took  shape  from  the 
bones.  The  sockets  of  their  eyes  looked  like  rings 
without  gems.  Whoever  would  believe  that  the  smell 
of  an  apple,  and  of  water,  begetting  desire,  could 
produce  such  effect,  if  he  did  not  know  by  experi- 
ence? 

I  was  still  wondering  why  they  were  so  starved, 
and  what  was  the  cause  of  their  leanness  and  scurf. 


sources  and  so  coincides  with  the  system  adhered  to  by  Dante 
throughout  the  penitential  terraces  of  Purgatory. 

*  Virgil  and  Statius  being,  because  poets,  wise  men. 

•  Psalm  LI.  15. 


214  DANTE 

when  all  at  once  from  the  depth  of  its  head,  one  of 
these  shades  turned  his  eyes  on  me,  looked  carefully 
and  cried  aloud : 

"What  blessed  fortune  this  is  for  me !" 
Never  should  I  have  known  him  by  his  face,  but 
in  his  voice  I  recognized  what  was  gone  from  his 
features.  This  spark^  rekindled  all  my  knowledge 
of  his  altered  countenance,  and  I  saw  that  it  was 
the  face  of  Forese.* 

Dante  expresses  surprise  that  his  old  friend  and 
companion,  who  had  been  dead  but  five  years, 
should  have  advanced  so  far  on  his  way  through 
Purgatory.    Forese  replies: 

"It  is  my  Nella  with  her  flood  of  tears,  who  has 
brought  me  thus  speedily  to  drink  the  sweet  worm- 
wood of  these  torments.  Her  devout  prayers  and 
sighs  have  taken  me  from  the  hillside  where  one 
waits,*^  and  have  freed  me  from  the  other  circles."* 

Dante  says  to  Forese : 

"If  you  call  to  mind  what  you  were  with  me,  and 
I  was  with  you,  the  memory  will  be  grievous  even 
yet.     From  that  sort  of  life  he,'  who  is  in  front, 

» Clue. 

*A  friend  of  Dante's  youth,  and  a  relative  of  his  wife. 

•  Ante-Purgatory. 

•  Pride,  Envy,  Wrath,  Sloth  and  Avarice. 
'Virgil 


DANTE  215 

lured  me  only  the  other  day.  He  has  guided  me, 
still  in  the  flesh,  through  the  utter  darkness  and 
among  the  truly  dead.*  Thence  have  his  encourage- 
ments drawn  me  upward,  ascending  and  circling  the 
mountain  that  sets  you,  whom  the  world  made 
crooked,  straight."® 

CANTO  XXIV 

Among  the  gluttons  Dante  meets  a  poet  of  Lucca, 
Bonagiunta,  and  discusses  poetry  with  him.  It  is  in 
this  conversation  that  he  declares  his  belief,  the 
faith  of  all  men  of  all  times,  whether  expressed  or 
not,  who  have  written  anything  worth  while  and 
lasting,  in  poetry  or  prose,  the  belief  that  before  all 
else  a  man  must  have  ideas;  something  to  write 
about;  something  in  which  he  truly  takes  an  inter- 

"The  shades  in  Hell  for  whom  there  is  no  hope,  as  distin- 
guished from  those  in  Purgatory,  for  whom  there  is  not  only 
hope,  but  ultimate  certainty  of  Heaven. 

•  About  this  passage  there  has  been  much  contention,  espe- 
cially as  to  the  part  which  Dante  played  in  the  discreditable 
relations  with  Forese,  which  he  here  recalls  to  Forese's  atten- 
tion. "These  relations  seem  to  have  been  (1)  ribald  attacks 
on  one  another,"  in  a  still  extant  group  of  sonnets :  (2)  their 
boon  companionship  and  careless  living,  the  latter  of  which  is 
implied  in  the  mode  of  life  which  is  symbolized  by  the  dark 
forest  where  Dante  found  himself  gone  astray,  at  the  very 
beginning  of  Hell.  That  a  youthful  friendship,  not  altogether 
noble  in  its  conduct,  was  broken,  and  that  Dante  and  Forese 
then  vilified  each  other  in  verse,  seems  to  be  close  upon  the 
fact  Here  in  Purgatory,  where  all  is  penitence  and  confes- 
sion, the  matter  is  disclosed  with  touching  simplicity,  and  a 
gleam  of  that  light  of  reality,  which  makes  the  past  live  to  a 
degree  almost  nowhere  else  equaled  among  the  many  undying 
episodes  with  which  Dante  vivifies  his  marvelous  sermon- 
narrative; 


216  DANTE 

est.  This  passage  in  which  Dante  tells  how  he  wrote, 
is  as  clear,  as  it  is  brief,  and  as  practically  useful, 
if  understood,  as  it  is  terse  and  plain.  It  is  a  beau- 
tiful example  of  the  great  creative  artist  in  the  role 
of  critic.    The  shade  of  Bonagiunta  says : 

"But  tell  me,  if  I  am  looking  upon  him,  who  in- 
vented those  new  rhymes,  beginning:  'Ladies  who 
have  intelligence  of  Love'?"* 

DANTE 

"I  am  one  who,  when  Love  inspires  me,  takes 
note,  and,  after  the  manner  which  he  dictates  within, 
gives  utterance." 

BONAGIUNTA' 

"O  brother,  now  I  see  what  it  was  that  hindered 
the  Notary,  and  Guittone,  and  me  from  attaining  the 
sweet  new  style  which  I  hear.^  I  now  see  clearly 
how  your  pen  follows  closely  after  the  dictator,* 
which  certainly  was  not  the  case  with  ours.    And 

*  The  first  canzone  of  The  New  Life,  Dante's  first  book, 
begins  with  this  line.  The  speaker  refers  to  it  as  being  in  the 
then  new  style,  and  wants  to  know  if  he  is  in  the  presence 
of  the  author  of  that  style. 

'The  Notary  means  a  Sicilian  poet,  Jacopo  da  Lentino, 
who,  with  Guittone  of  Arezzo,  and  the  speaker  himself,  failed 
to  attain  anything  that  approached  poetic  success. 

•  Love. 

"  'Fool,*  said  my  Muse  to  me,  'look  in  thy  heart  and  write.*  ** 
Sir  Philip  Sidney. 


DANTE  217 

he  who  undertakes  to  look  further  can  not  find  more 
cause  for  the  difference  between  our  style  and 
yours." 

After  some  further  talk  Dante  and  Virgil  are 
left  behind  by  Forese.    Then: 

Not  far  away  there  appeared  before  my  eyes  the 
laden  and  living  boughs  of  another  fruit  tree.*  Be- 
neath it  I  saw  people  who  were  holding  up  their 
hands,  and  crying,  I  know  not  what,  toward  the 
branches,  like  eager  and  expectant  little  children 
who  beg,  and  he  from  whom  they  beg  gives  not, 
but  to  make  their  longing  keener,  holds  out  of  reach 
what  they  want,  and  shows  it  openly. 

From  among  the  leaves  mystic  voices  cite  famous 
cases  of  gluttony,  for  the  hearing  and  tormenting 
of  the  people  who  beg  fruit  and  are  denied.  Finally 
the  angel  of  the  pass  comes. 

As  the  breeze  of  May,  herald  of  the  dawn,  stirs 
and  breathes  forth  sweetness,  full  to  overflowing, 
with  scent  of  herb  and  flower,  such  an  air  I  felt  upon 
my  forehead,  and  clearly  too,  the  stir  of  wings 
which  spread  an  ambrosial  fragrance  round  about. 
And  I  heard : 

*  As  he  was  circling  the  terrace,  looking  forward,  Forese 
gone  out  of  sight,  this  tree  appeared. 


218  DANTE 

"Blessed  are  they  whom  so  much  grace  illumines 
that  their  love  of  taste  does  not  kindle  overpowering 
desire,  hungering  always  so  much  as  is  right.'"* 

CANTO  XXV 

The  seventh  terrace.  The  main  part  of  this  canto 
is  taken  up  with  a  difficult  discourse  by  Statins  upon 
generation,  and  the  manner  of  infusing  the  soul  into 
the  body.  Dante  asks  why  the  shades  of  the  gluttons 
are  all  so  emaciated.  Statins  answers,  and  tells 
what  the  nature  of  a  shade  really  is,  and  how  it 
comes  to  have  the  appearance  of  a  human  body,  and 
the  senses  of  the  flesh.  This  passage,  aside  from 
being  interesting  in  itself,  is  most  important  as  help- 
ing us  to  understand  what  the  shades,  or  ghosts, 
really  are;  the  actors  of  The  Divine  Comedy. 

"Open  your  heart  to  the  truth  which  is  coming, 
and  learn  that  so  soon  as  the  articulation  of  the 
brain  is  perfect  in  the  embryo,  God  turns  to  it  re- 
joicing at  the  handiwork  of  nature,  and  breathes  into 
it  a  spirit  replete  with  strength  which  absorbs  into 
its  own  substance  whatever  it  finds  active  in  the  em- 
bryo, and  thereon  it  becomes  an  individual  soul, 
which  lives,  and  feels,  and  centers  its  thoughts  upon 
itself.^    And  in  order  that  you  may  be  less  puzzled 


*  Resisting  gluttony. 

*  Becomes  conscious  of  its  own  existence  as  an  individual, 
rational  being,  and,  as  such,  distinguished  from  all  other 
creatures. 


DANTE  219 

by  my  words,  consider  how  the  sun's  warmth,  com- 
bining with  the  juice  of  the  grape,  becomes  wine.' 
At  last  when  Lachesis  has  no  more  thread,^  this  soul 
is  set  free  from  the  flesh  and  bears  away,  latent 
within  itself,  its  faculties,  both  the  human  and  the 
divine,*  the  flesh  remaining  inactive  behind;  but 
memory,  intelligence,  and  will,  far  more  powerful 
than  before.*  Without  a  pause,  it  falls  naturally  on 
one  or  other  of  tlie  two  river  banks.^  There  it  first 
learns  its  destined  way.  So  soon  as  it  reaches  its 
allotted  place,^  its  spiritual  substance^  shines  out 
around  it  in  the  same  shape  and  size  as  it  had  when 
it  dwelt  in  the  living  members.  And  as  our  at- 
mosphere, charged  with  moisture,  takes  on  a  lovely 
iridescence,  because  of  the  sun's  rays  reflected  in 
it,  so  in  the  other  world*  the  air  shapes  itself  to  that 
form  which  the  soul,  that  has  come  to"  its  destina- 


'As  the  heat  of  the  sun  passes  into  the  juice  of  the  grape 
and  forms  wine,  so  the  rational  soul,  the  soul  with  powers  of 
reasoning,  the  divine  element,  which  proceeds  from  God, 
entering  into  the  vegetative  and  sensitive  soul,  human  ele- 
ments, forms  the  perfect,  complete  being,  i.  e.,  both  human 
and  divine,  human  soul.  See  Tozer,  English  Commentary  on 
La  Divina  Commedia,  page  346. 

'When  life  comes  to  an  end. 

*That  which  pertains  to  the  life  of  the  body,  and  that  which 
pertains  to  the  other,  soul  or  intellect. 

'Before  death. 

•Of  Acheron,  if  bound  for  Hell;  of  Tiber,  if  bound  for 
Purgatory. 

^  Hell  or  Purgatory. 

•The  inherent  or  shaping  principle  which  invisibly  makes 
us  what  we  are,  in  stature,  and  features,  while  we  live. 

•The  world  of  the  dead. 

**ln  its  fall  to  the  shores  of  Acheron  or  Tiber. 


220  DANTE 

tion,  stamps  upon  it.  And  then,  as  flame  follows 
fire"  wherever  it  shifts,  so  this  renewed  shape  ac- 
companies the  spirit.  Since  from  the  moment  of 
this  transformation  it  has  visibiHty,  it  is  called  a 
shade,  and  as  such  it  also  receives  back  all  the 
senses,  even  the  sense  of  sight;  thence  we  speak, 
and  laugh,  and  thence  we  weep  and  sigh,  as  you 
have  heard  on  this  mountain.  In  accord  as  our  de- 
sires and  our  passions  mold  us  are  our  shades 
molded."" 

They  now  approach  the  spirits  of  the  lustful, 
walking  in  fire  and  singing,  "God  of  clemency  su- 
preme."^' 

And  I  saw  shades  walking  through  the  fire 
whereat  I  gave  heed  to  them  and  measured  my  foot- 
steps to  theirs,  thus  keeping  my  look  on  each  from 
moment  to  moment."  When  their  hymn  was  done, 
they  cried  aloud :  *T  know  not  a  man ;""  then  with 
low  tones  recommenced  the  hymn.  This  in  turn 
finished,  they  cried  anew ;  "Diana  abode  in  the  wood, 

"  Fire  is  here  used  to  mean  the  vital  principle  and  not  what 
we  generally  understand  by  fire. 

"  The  spirit  body.  Thus  Dante  accounts  for  the  emaciation 
of  the  shades  of  the  gluttons,  so  deep-eyed,  hollow-cheeked 
and  thin. 

"  The  hymn  containing  a  prayer  for  purity. 

"They  in  the  fire,  and  Dante  outside  of  it,  walking  with 
them. 

"The  words  of  Mary  to  the  angel  of  the  Annunciation, 
Luke  i.  34. 


DANTE  221 

and  from  it  drove  Helice/"  who  had  tasted  the  poi- 
son of  Venus."  Then  they  again  began  to  sing: 
and  afterward  loudly  proclaimed  husbands  and 
wives  who  were  chaste,  as  virtue  and  marriage  en- 
join. And  this  procedure  suffices  for  the  whole  of 
the  time  that  the  fire  burns  them.  By  such  cure, 
and  such  means,  it  is  necessary  that  the  last  P 
should  be  blotted  out.^^ 

CANTO  XXVI 

Among  the  many  shades  purging  themselves  of 
lust  in  the  fire,  Dante  meets  one  in  particular  who 
tells  him  who  he  is : 

"I  am  Guido  Guinlcelli,*  and  I  am  already  cleans- 
ing myself  because  I  repented  before  my  last  hour." 

Such  as  the  two  sons  of  Lycurgus  became  when 
in  the  ntidst  of  their  rage  and  sorrow  they  again  be- 
held their  mother,^  such  I  became,  but  not  so  utterly 
carried  away,  when  I  heard  this  one  name  himself, 
in  poetry,  my  father,  and  the  father  of  others,  my 
betters,  and  of  all  who  ever  made  sweet  and  grace- 

*•  A  nymph  who  bore  a  son  to  Jupiter. 
"  The  last  P,  standing  for  the  last  of  the  mortal  sins,  namely 
Lust 

*  The  most  famous  of  Italian  poets  before  Dante.  He  be- 
longed in  Bologna. 

*  At  the  moment  when  Lycurgus,  in  grief  and  rage  was 
about  to  kill  his  wife  for  carelessly  causing  the  death  of  their 
infant  son,  she  (Hypsipyle)  was  recognized,  and  saved,  by  her 
elder  sons,  Euneus  and  Thoas. 


222  DANTE 

f  ul  rhymes  of  love.'  Absorbed  in  thought,  not  heat^ 
ing  or  speaking,  utterly  amazed,  I  walked  on,  gazing 
a  long  time  at  him.  But  because  of  the  fire  I  did  not 
go  close  to  him.  When  I  was  fully  satisfied  with 
looking,  I  offered  myself  with  the  sort  of  vow  which 
begets  trust,  as  being  entirely  ready  to  serve  him. 

And  he  to  me : 

"From  what  I  hear,  you  make  such  a  clear  im- 
pression on  me,  that  Lethe  can  not  wash  it  away,  or 
dim  it.  But  if,  just  now,  your  vow  was  truly  sworn, 
tell  me  why,  in  word  and  look,  you  show  that  you 
hold  me  so  dear?" 

And  I  to  him : 

**Your  sweet  songs,  which  shall  endure  as  long 
as  modern  usage  continues,  make  the  very  ink  in 
which  they  are  written,  dear  to  me."* 

CANTO  XXVII 

The  day  was  fading,  when  the  angel  of  God,  all 
gladness,  appeared  to  us.    He  was  standing  on  the 

*  Dante  regarded  Guido  Guinicelli  as  the  father  of  Italian 
poetry. 

*  Guido  wrote  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  in  Italian,  the  language 
of  the  people,  as  opposed  to  Latin,  the  language  of  church  and 
court,  and  of  learning  generally.  This  was  the  modern  usage. 
Dante's  love  for  his  teacher,  father  to  him  in  poetry,  is 
equaled  only  by  his  affection  for  Brunetto  Latini  (Hell,  Canto 
XV).  Together,  the  two  passages  express  such  a  depth  of 
reverence  for  a  good  teacher  as  is  not  surpassed  in  the  realm 
of  letters.  Dante  himself,  in  his  own  work,  illustrates  the 
truth  of  Ruskin's  remark  that  a  good  teacher  is  to  be  known 
by  the  fact  that  his  pupils  are  better  than  he. 


DANTE  223 

edge  of  the  terrace,  outside  the  fire,  and  was  sing- 
ing: 

"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,"  with  voice  sur- 
passing human. 

Then: 

"No  one  advances  beyond  this  spot,  O  holy  souls, 
if  he  has  not  first  suffered  in  the  fire :  enter  it,  and 
to  the  song  on  the  far  side,  sharpen  your  ears." 

This  he  said  to  us,  as  we  drew  near  to  him.  On 
hearing  this  I  became  like  one  who  is  put  in  the  pit.* 
With  clasped  hands  I  stretched  forward  looking  at 
the  fire,  picturing  to  myself  human  bodies  that  I 
had  seen  burned  at  the  stake.  My  kind  guides 
turned  to  me,  and  Virgil  said : 

"Son,  here  may  be  torment,  but  not  death.  Be 
careful !  be  careful !  for  if  even  on  the  back  of  Ger- 
yon  I  guided  you  safe,  what  can  I  not  do  now  that 
we  are  so  much  nearer  God?  Believe  for  certain, 
that  if  you  were  to  stand  within  this  fire  for  a  full 
thousand  years,  it  could  not  make  you  bald  of  a 
single  hair.  And  if  perchance  you  think  that  I  am 
deceiving  you,  approach  it,  and  make  trial  of  it 
with  your  own  hands,  upon  the  hem  of  your  gar- 
ments. From  this  moment  lay  aside  every  fear; 
turn  this  way,  and  come  forward  in  perfect  safety." 

Notwithstanding,  and  in  spite  of  conscience,  I  did 
not  stir. 


*  Like  a  criminal  about  to  be  buried  alive. 


224  DANTE 

When  he  saw  me,  still  motionless  and  obdurate, 
he  said,  a  little  disturbed : 

"Look,  son,  between  you  and  Beatrice  is  this 
wall." 

As  at  the  name  of  Thisbe,  Pyramus,  on  the  point 
of  death,  opened  his  eyes  and  gazed  on  her,  at  the 
time  when  the  mulberry  turned  purple,*  so,  my  ob- 
stinacy being  softened,  I  turned  to  my  wise  leader, 
hearing  the  name  that  ever  in  my  memory  wells  up. 
At  this  he  nodded  his  head,  and  said : 
I  "Do  we  want  to  stay  longer  on  this  side  ?"  Then 
he  smiled  as  one  does  at  a  child  won  by  an  apple. 

Thereupon,  leading,  he  entered  the  fire,  praying 
Statins,  who  for  a  long  way  had  come  between  us, 
to  follow  on  behind.  When  I  was  within  the  fire 
I  would  have  thrown  myself  into  molten  glass  to 
cool  me,  so  intensely  did  it  burn.  My  beloved 
father,  to  encourage  me,  spoke  incessantly  of 
Beatrice,  saying: 

"Already  I  seem  to  see  her  eyes." 

A  voice  singing  on  the  far  side  guided  us,  and 
we,  heeding  only  it,  issued  forth  where  the  ascent 
began. 

"Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,'"  sounded 
within  a  light  that  shone  so  bright  that  I  could  not 
look  at  it. 

'The  tovers  met  under  a  mulberry  tree  and,  at  the  prayer 
of  Thisbe,  who  was  dying  by  her  own  hand  because  Pyramus 
was  dead,  the  fruit  of  the  mulberry  turned  from  white  to 
dark. 

•  Matthew  xxv.  34. 


DANTE  225 

"The  sun  is  sinking  fast,"  it  added,  "and  the  night 
approaches;  tarry  not,  but  quicken  your  steps  until 
the  west  is  dark." 

The  passage  led  straight  up  through  the  rock,  in 
such  direction  that  in  front  I  cut  off  the  sun's  rays 
which  were  already  low.  We  had  mounted  but  few 
of  the  stairs  when  by  the  disappearance  of  my 
shadow,  both  I  and  the  sages  knew  that  the  sun  had 
set.  And  ere  the  horizon  in  all  its  boundlessness 
had  taken  on  one  color,  and  night  had  all  her  orna- 
ments, each  of  us  made  his  bed  upon  a  stair,  for  the 
nature  of  the  mountain  took  away  the  power  to 
climb,  rather  than  the  desire. 

As  goats,  that  have  been  agile  and  fleet  upon  the 
mountain  peaks,  ere  they  have  fed,  grow  quiet  while 
chewing  the  cud,  hushed  in  the  shade;  so  long  as 
the  sun  is  hot,  tended  by  the  goatherd  who,  leaning 
on  his  staff,  watches  over  them;  and  as  the  herds- 
man who  lives  in  the  open,  spends  the  night  beside 
his  quiet  flock,  taking  care  that  no  wild  beast  scat- 
ter it;  such  then  were  all  three  of  us,  I  like  a  goat, 
and  they  like  shepherds,  hemmed  in  on  either  side  by 
the  high  ledges.  Little  of  what  was  outside  could 
be  seen,  but  in  that  little  I  beheld  the  stars  both 
brighter  and  larger  than  usual.  So,  musing,  and 
looking  out  upon  them,*  sleep  laid  hold  on  me,  sleep 
which  often  reveals  an  event  before  it  takes  place. 

At  the  hour,  I  think,  when  Venus,  who  seems  al- 

*The  stars. 


226  DANTE 

ways  burning  with  the  fire  of  love,  first  shone  upon 
the  mountain, '^  I  had  a  dream  wherein  I  saw  a  lady, 
young  and  lovely,  walking  in  a  meadow  and  gather- 
ing flowers.    She  was  singing: 

"Let  him  who  asks  my  name  know  that  I  am 
Leah;  and  that  while  I  move  about,  I  ply  my  fair 
hands  to  weave  me  a  garland.  To  have  delight  be- 
fore my  mirror,  I  here  adorn  myself,  but  my  sister 
Rachel  never  forsakes  her  looking-glass,  sitting  be- 
fore it  the  livelong  day.  She  is  as  eager  to  look  at 
her  sweet  eyes,  as  I  to  deck  me  with  my  hands. 
Contemplation  is  her  joy ;  work  is  mine.'" 

And  now,  because  of  the  brightness  which  pre- 
cedes the  sun,  and  which  to  pilgrims  is  more  wel- 
come the  nearer  home  they  pass  each  night,  dark- 
ness was  vanishing  on  every  side  and  with  it  my 
slumber.  Then  I  rose,  seeing  the  great  masters' 
already  risen. 

"That  sweet  fruit'  which  the  care  of  mortals 
seeks  upon  so  many  branches,  shall  this  day  satisfy 
your  hunger." 

These  words  Virgil  said  to  me,  and  never  were 
gifts  that  gave  so  much  pleasure.     So  intense  did 


'  Venus  as  morning  star  is  rising  in  the  dawn. 

"The  mirror  and  the  looking-glass  mean  the  face  of  God, 
gazing  at  which  Leah,  symbolizing  the  active,  and  Rachel  the 
contemplative  life,  find  their  bliss.  The  dream  foreshadows 
what  is  soon  to  occur  and  be  seen  in  the  Earthly  Paradise, 
when  Dante  shall  meet  Matilda  and  Beatrice;  a  sort  of  proem. 

'  Statius  and  Virgil. 

'The  Supreme  Good. 


DANTE  227, 

wish  on  wish  to  be  above,  come  to  me,  that  after 
these  words  I  felt  my  wings  with  every  step  grow 
stronger  for  the  flight. 

When  the  stairway  beneath  our  feet  had  been  all 
gone  over,  and  we  were  on  the  topmost  step,  Virgil 
fixed  his  eyes  on  me  and  said  : 

"Son,  you  have  seen  the  temporal  fire,®  and  the 
eternal,^"  and  you  have  now  reached  a  place  where, 
unaided,  I  can  see  no  farther/^  I  have  guided  you 
so  far  with  understanding  and  with  skill.  From  now; 
on  let  your  own  pleasure  guide  you.  You  are  be- 
yond the  steep  places,  beyond  the  narrow.  See !  the 
sun  is  shining  full  upon  your  brow;  behold  the 
young  grass,  the  flowers,  and  the  shrubs  which  in 
this  place^^  the  earth  of  itself  brings  forth."  Until, 
with  joy  overflowing,  the  lovely  eyes  appear  which, 
full  of  tears,  bade  me  go  to  you,  you  may  sit  upon 
the  grass  and  stroll  among  the  flowers.  Await  no 
further  word  or  sign,  from  me.  Free,  upright,  and 
sound,  is  your  own  will.  It  would  be  wrong  not  to 
act  according  to  its  dictates;  wherefore  over  your- 
self I  crown  and  mitre  you."** 

•  Purgatory. 

"  Hell. 

"  Virgil  representing  human  reason  and  knowledge  can  not 
act  as  guide  in  the  Earthly  Paradise,  to  which  they  are  just 
now  coming. 

"  Earthly  Paradise. 

"  Without  seed. 

**  Virgil,  as  it  were,  bestows  on  Dante  complete  jurisdiction 
over  himself.  The  crown  refers  to  temporal  conduct;  the 
mitre  to  spiritual.    Being  purged  of  the  seven  sins,  and  of 


228  DANTE 

CANTO  XXVIII 

Eager  to  explore  the  heavenly  forest  which, 
dense,  and  always  green,  tempered  the  light  of 
the  new  day,  without  longer  wait  I  left  the  moun- 
tain's edge  and  slowly  took  the  level  ground  which 
everywhere  breathed  fragrance.  A  gentle  breeze 
that  changed  not  its  direction,  fanned  my  brow.  It 
bent  the  light  boughs  toward  the  west,  but  not 
enough  to  stop  the  little  birds  singing  in  the  tops. 
There  they  sang  joyously  among  the  leaves,  and 
there  they  welcomed  the  morning  zephyr  which  ac- 
companied their  songs. 

By  this  time,  walking  slowly,  I  had  gone  so  far 
into  the  primeval  wood  that  I  could  no  longer  see 
the  place  where  I  had  entered.  Suddenly,  my  way 
was  cut  off  by  a  stream  whose  gentle  rippling  bent 
leftward  the  grass  that  grew  upon  its  margin.  All 
the  waters  that  are  clearest  upon  Earth,  would  seem 


inclination  for  any  one  of  them,  Virgil  tells  Dante  that  from 
now  on  his  own  desires  will  be  safe  guides  to  good,  and  that 
his  will  is  not  only  free,  but  can  not  make  an  error.  As 
Dante  is  here  represented,  though  himself  soon  to  return  to 
the  world,  and  the  struggle  with  temptation  and  vice,  such  is 
every  soul  upon  the  termination  of  its  purgatorial  journey, 
and  at  the  moment  of  admittance  to  the  higher,  the  everlast- 
ing world  of  goodness  and  God,  which  is  Paradise.  Dante 
uses  himself  as  a  symbol  of  the  purified  souls  of  the  elect. 
The  beautiful  imagery  of  Leah  and  Rachel,  and  the  kingly 
sort  of  freedom  bestowed  on  Dante  by  Virgil,  along  with  the 
wonderful  beauty  of  earthly  things,  intensified  by  an  inde- 
finable sort  of  mystical  beauty — in  a  word,  the  whole  latter 
part  of  the  twenty-seventh  Canto  of  Purgatory  is  really  the 
prologue  to  the  Earthly  Paradise  and  all  that  it  contains  of 
transcendent  loveliness  and  mystery. 


DANTE  229 

murky  compared  with  that  which  here  hides  noth- 
ing, as  it  flows  on,  dark,  almost  black,  beneath  the 
perpetual  shadow,*  which  never  lets  enter  ray  of  sun 
or  moon. 

■  My  feet  I  moved  not,  but  with  my  eyes  I  crossed 
to  the  other  side  of  the  little  stream  and  gazed  in 
amazement  on  the  variety  of  fresh  blossoms.  On 
the  opposite  bank,  just  as  when  something  appears 
suddenly  which  diverts  all  one's  thoughts,  there  ap- 
peared a  solitary  lady.  As  she  moved  she  sang,  and 
all  the  while  she  busied  herself  gathering  flowers 
from  among  those  which  brightened  her  path. 

"Fair  lady,  happy  in  the  glow  of  love,  to  judge  by 
looks,  which  are  the  tell-tales  of  the  heart,  may  it 
please  you,"  said  I  to  her,  "to  come  so  near  the 
stream  that  I  can  hear  what  you  are  singing.  You 
make  me  remember  where  and  what  Proserpine  was 
at  the  time  her  mother  lost  her,  and  she  the  spring."^ 

As,  dancing,  a  lady  turns,  keeping  her  feet  close 
to  the  ground,  and  together,  one  foot  scarcely  set 
before  the  other,  so,  this  lady,  and  directed  her  mod- 
est eyes,  lowered  in  the  manner  of  a  maiden, 
across  the  red  and  yellow  flowers,  upon  me.     She 

*  Due  to  the  dense  foliage  of  the  wood. 

'  Ceres  was  the  mother  of  Proserpine,  who,  while  gather- 
ing flowers,  was  carried  off  to  the  underworld  by  Pluto.  It 
was  so  Proserpine  lost  the  spring;  a  lovely  story,  retold  by 
Hawthorne  with  such  charm  as  few  of  the  stories  of  Greece 
have  ever  been  retold.  The  finality  and  tenderness  of  Dante's 
line  recall  the  similar  finality  and  tenderness  of  Pericles 
in  speaking  of  Athens,  and  of  her  young  men  killed  in  battle; 
"the  city  has  lost  its  youth  and  the  year  has  lost  its  spring." 


230  DANTE 

granted  my  prayer  and  drew  so  near  that  her  sweet 
tones  reached  me  with  their  meaning.*  When  she 
arrived  at  the  place  where  the  water  of  the  pretty 
stream  bathed  the  grass,  she  rejoiced  my  very  soul 
by  her  eyes.  I  do  not  beHeve  that  so  fair  a  hght 
shone  beneath  the  Hds  of  Venus  when  she  was  trans- 
fixed by  her  own  son,  in  a  manner  utterly  unusual.* 
There,  opposite,  on  the  right  bank  she  stood,  smil- 
ing, and  gathering  those  varicolored  flowers  which 
grow  without  the  planting  of  seed  in  that  ex- 
alted place.  The  stream  put  three  paces  between 
us;  but  the  Hellespont  where  Xerxes  crossed  it,  to 
this  day  a  curb  upon  all  human  pride,  was  not  more 
hated  by  Leander  because  it  flowed  between  Sestos 
and  Abydos,  than  this  stream  was  hated  by  me,  be- 
cause it  did  not  open. 

"You  are  newcomers,"  she  began,  "and  mayhap 
you  wonder  why  I  am  smiling  here  in  this  place 
which  was  chosen  for  the  cradle  of  the  human  race. 
The  psalm,  *For  thou.  Lord,  hast  made  me  glad,* 
contains  the  light  that  will  illumine  your  under- 
standing."" 

"  He  could  distinguish  the  words  of  her  song. 

*  Cupid  accidentally  hit  Venus  with  one  of  his  arrows,  thus 
causing  her  to  fall  in  love  with  Adonis. 

'  Psalm  xcii  :4.  "For  thou  Lord,  hast  made  me  glad 
through  thy  work ;  I  will  triumph  in  the  works  of  thy  hands." 
Matilda  smiles  with  gladness  as  she  looks  at  the  forest  and 
the  flowers,  God's  handiwork.  Psalm  xix.  Matilda  has  seen 
in  the  faces  of  the  poets  an  expression  of  surprise  at  her 
smiling  in  so  sacred  a  place. 


DANTE  231 

The  fair  lady,  who  is  Matilda,  now  discourses  on 
the  nature  of  the  Earthly  Paradise  and  tells  how 
the  generation  of  plants,  and  the  conditions  of  the 
atmosphere,  differ  in  their  procedure  from  similar 
phenomena  on  Earth.  She  further  tells  about  the 
stream  on  whose  banks  they  are  standing;  how  it 
neither  loses  by  evaporation  nor  is  increased  by 
rainfall,  but  maintains  a  steady  flow,  and  even 
volume,  in  accord  with  the  will  of  God.  It  is  here 
in  the  Earthly  Paradise  that  Dante  begins  to  pile 
miracle  upon  fact.  Up  all  the  steps  of  Purgatory 
he  insists  upon  the  loveliness  and  grandeur  of  na- 
ture, as  we  know  her  on  Earth,  in  all  her  aspects, 
great  and  small.  Now  he  begins  to  raise  the  real 
above  itself,  and  in  this  he  continues  steadily  until 
from  the  Earthly  he  carries  us  to  the  Heavenly 
Paradise,  and  from  the  outer  circles  of  it,  to  the 
innermost,  where  is  God  Himself. 

As  Dante's  Hell  can  be  likened  to  a  single  mag- 
nificent picture  of  shadow,  his  Purgatory  and  Para- 
dise, inseparable  halves  of  one  great  whole,  can  be 
likened  to  a  single  magnificent  picture  of  light. 
Each,  at  any  given  point,  seems  total  darkness,  or 
dazzling  light,  but  move  the  mind's  eye  up  or  down 
upon  the  canvas,  i.  e.,  through  the  cantos,  and  it  in- 
stantly becomes  sensible  of  increasing  darkness,  or 
increasing  light.  That  same  strength  and  delicacy 
of  perception  which  enabled  Rembrandt  to  see, 
where  most  men  only  grope;  which  made  him  the 


232  DANTE 

discoverer  of  the  beauties  and  meanings  which  dark- 
ness holds;  that  same  outward  eyesight,  and  in- 
ward vision,  which  enabled  Turner  to  see,  where 
most  men  are  blinded,  thus  constituting  him,  before 
all  other  artists,  the  revealer  of  the  wonders  of  the 
loveliness  which  light  holds — these  attributes,  com- 
bined in  Dante,  gave  him  the  power  to  penetrate  the 
abyss,  scale  the  mountain,  fly  the  heavens,  and  to 
report  the  things  he  saw  therein,  as  no  other  human 
being  has  ever  done.  Each  of  these  men  had  his 
own,  a  masterly  technique,  but  of  far  greater  import 
to  art  is  the  fact  that  each  of  them  had  the  power  to 
see  and  understand,  in  a  word,  have  ideas,  which 
are  the  alpha  and  omega  of  all  art. 

In  Sartor  Resartus,  Carlyle  says:  "To  each  is 
given  a  certain  inward  talent,  a  certain  outward  en- 
vironment of  Fortune,  to  each  by  wisest  combina- 
tion of  these  two,  a  certain  maximum  of  capability." 

For  the  maximum  of  capability  yet  vouchsafed 
the  world  in  the  forms  of  painting,  and  of  writing, 
the  essential  substance  of  which  is  ideas  concern- 
ing darkness  and  light,  literal  and  figurative,  light 
and  darkness,  we  must  go  to  Rembrandt,  to  Turner, 
to  Dante. 

Matilda  says,  speaking  of  the  stream : 

"On  this  side  it  flows  downward,  having  the 
power  to  wash  away  the  memory  of  sin;  on  the 


DANTE  233 

other  side,  to  restore  the  memory  of  good  deeds. 
On  this  side  it  is  called  Lethe,  on  that,  Eunoe ;  and 
these  things  it  does  not  do  unless  it  is  tasted  first 
on  this,  and  then  on  that  side.  The  flavor  of  thi» 
water  is  above  all  others."" 

She  closes  her  speech  with  these  lovely  lines  about 
Eden: 

"Those'  who  in  old  time  sang  of  the  Golden  Age, 
and  its  happy  state,  perchance  upon  Parnassus, 
dreamed  of  this  place;  here  dwelt  the  root  of  man- 
kind in  innocence  f  here  are  eternal  spring  and  every 
fruit;  this  is  the  nectar  of  which  they  all  sing." 

CANTOS  XXIX  TO  XXXIH 

The  four  concluding  cantos  of  Purgatory  give  a 
marvelous  figurative  account  of  the  history  of  the 
Church,  Church  Militant  and  Church  Triumphant, 
and  of  the  words  of  Beatrice  when  she  accuses 
Dante  of  having  been  unfaithful  to  her,  and  of 
his  answering  and  entire  confession.  After  this 
he  passes  through  the  waters  of  Lethe,  and  for- 

•  Lethe  washes  away  the  memory  of  past  sins  and  flows 
downward  with  them  to  Hell.  Eunoe,  stream  of  "kindly 
thoughts,"  equips  the  soul  for  the  place.  Earthly  Paradise, 
Xrhere  no  other  thoughts  can  exist. 

^yirgil  was  accredited  with  having  foretold  the  coming  of 
Oirist  in  what  he  said  in  the  fourth  Eclogue  about  the  Golden 
Age.    See  Canto  XXII,  page  210. 

•Adam  and  Eve. 


234  DANTE 

gets  sin,  both  the  sins  of  the  world,  and  his  own 
sins,  and  then,  through  the  waters  of  Eunoe,  thus 
renewing  memory  of  all  the  good  that  he  had  ever 
done.  At  this  point  he  is  ready  for  Heaven,  and 
the  journey  of  the  mountain,  and  the  sojourn  in  the 
Earthly  Paradise,  come  to  a  mystically  quiet  and 
happy  ending. 

The  passages  dealing  with  the  Mystic  Procession 
of  the  Church  have  figurative  reference  to  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  the  books  of  each,  and  their 
bearing  upon  the  Church  on  Earth,  and  in  Heaven ; 
its  persecutions  and  its  victory.  Never,  save  in 
Revelations,  has  pageantry  risen  to  such  height.  It 
is  the  work  of  a  consummate  colorist  and  designer. 
It  goes,  as  it  were,  uttering  the  simplicity  that  is 
sublime.  Nowhere  else  does  Dante  so  surely  prove 
himself  to  be  of  the  Italian  thirteenth- fourteenth 
century,  and  of  the  very  greatest  men  of  that,  or 
any  other  time.  Nowhere  else  does  he  so  unques- 
tionably establish  his  like-mindedness  to  Giotto, 
and  to  the  artists  who  did  the  early  frescoes  in  the 
Pisan  cemetery.  That  he  spoke,  and  they  pained,, 
constitutes  no  essential  difference.  Of  one  mind, 
they  thought  alike.  "The  pictures  on  the  walls  of  the 
churches  are  the  books  of  the  common  people,"  said 
Pope  Gregory  VII.  The  Italian  language  was  the 
language  of  the  common  people.  It  was  to  the  com- 
mon people  that  Dante's  pages,  and  the  walls  of 
Pisa  and  Assisi  made  their  intended  appeal.     All, 


DANTE  235 

alike,  were  preachers;  preachers  of  profound  truth 
set  forth  in  forms  of  exalted  beauty.  There  is 
much  that  may  be  difficult  to  grasp  in  the  form, 
but  little  that  is  difficult  to  grasp  in  the  meaning 
of  the  work  of  these  men,  even  to-day.  If  this 
were  not  so,  our  twentieth  century  would  not  pause 
long,  in  increasing  numbers,  and  with  delight,  before 
such  work.  Wherever  and  whenever  men  love  color, 
and  form,  and  fragrance,  and  beauty,  and  truth, 
there  and  then  will  the  Last  Judgment  frescoes,  the 
so-called  "Four  Last  Things"  of  the  Campo  Santo 
in  Pisa,  the  frescoed  life  of  St.  Francis,  in  Assisi, 
and  Dante's  Mystic  Procession  of  the  Church,  be 
prized. 

In  reading  the  concluding  cantos  of  Purgatory  I 
know  of  nothing  so  truly  useful  as  a  few  sentences 
in  Professor  A.  C.  Bradley's  address  on  Poetry 
for  Poetry's  Sake,  Oxford,  1901.  "When  you  are 
reading  a  poem,  I  would  ask — not  analyzing  it,  and 
much  less  criticizing  it,  but  allowing  it,  as  it  pro- 
ceeds, to  make  its  full  impression  on  you  through 
the  exertion  of  your  re-creating  imagination — do 
you  then  apprehend  and  enjoy  as  one  thing  a  certain 
meaning  or  substance,  and  as  another  thing  certain 
articulate  sounds,  and  do  you  somehow  compound 
these  two  ?  Surely  you  do  not,  any  more  than  you 
apprehend  apart,  when  you  see  some  one  smile, 
those  lines  in  a  face  which  express  a  feeling,  and 
the  feeling  that  the  lines  express." 


236  DANTE 

As  far  as  possible,  and  before  all  else,  when  first 
reading  these  marvelous  cantos  of  Purgatory  we 
should  read  for  a  full  impression.  It  is  time  enough 
later  to  read  for  detail,  and  hidden  meanings,  and 
allusion.  To  begin  with,  take  them  as  you  would  a 
fine  picture  which  you  knew  you  were  to  see  for  ten 
minutes  only,  and  never  afterward;  as  you  would 
a  splendid  pageant  upon  which  you  came  unexpect- 
edly, not  allowing  your  sense  and  enjoyment  of  the 
whole  to  be  marred  because  you  are  puzzled  by  the 
meaning  of  any,  even  many,  of  the  details,  for  after 
all,  the  whole  is  above  the  parts,  and  the  parts  exist 
for  it,  not  it  for  the  parts.  In  art,  we  should  first 
try  to  look  at  the  whole. 

When  Matilda  had  done  speaking,  as  if  trans- 
ported by  love,  she  began  to  sing:  "Blessed  is  he 
whose  transgression  is  forgiven."^  And,  like  the 
nymphs  who  used  to  wander  solitary  through  the 
wooded  glades,  some  seeking,  others  avoiding,  the 
sun,  she  began  to  take  her  way  along  the  bank, 
counter  to  the  current,  and  I  followed,  keeping  pact, 
with  her  short  steps.  Together  we  had  not  gone  a 
hundred  steps,  when  the  borders  of  the  stream  took 
a  turn  and  I  found  myself  once  more  facing  East. 
Nor  had  we  been  moving  long  in  this  direction, 
when  the  lady  turned  squarely  toward  me,  saying: 

"My  brother,  look  and  listen." 

*  Psalm  xxxii:l. 


DANTE  237 

All  at  once  an  unexpected  light  flashed  through  the 
immense  forest  in  every  direction,  so  that  I  ques- 
tioned if  it  were  not  lightning.  But  because  light- 
ning goes  as  soon  as  it  comes,  and  this  stayed,  and 
grew  brighter  and  brighter,  I  said  to  myself :  "What 
can  this  thing  be?"  Then  a  sweet  melody  floated 
through  the  bright  air.  It  was  then  that  righteous 
indignation  made  me  upbraid  the  foolhardiness  of 
Eve,  who,  the  only  woman,  and  just  created,  there 
where  the  Earth  and  Heaven  were  obedient,  could 
not  check  her  curiosity,^  had  she  done  which,  I  should 
have  tasted  these  ineffable  delights  before,  and  for  a 
longer  time.  As  I  walked  onward,  among  so  many 
first  fruits  of  the  eternal  pleasure,  self-absorbed,  but 
yearning  for  still  loftier  delights,  the  whole  atmos- 
phere beneath  the  green  boughs,  in  front  of  us,  be- 
gan to  glow  like  fire,  and  the  sweet  melody  changed 
to  song. 

O  thrice  sacred  Virgins'  if  ever  for  your  sake  I 
endured  hunger,  cold,  and  sleepless  nights,  this  is 
the  time  to  claim  my  reward.  Now  verily  should 
Helicon  gush  forth  in  my  behalf,  and  Urania,  with 
her  choir,  aid  me  to  put  into  verse  things  difficult  to 
conceive. 

A  little  farther  on  when  I  had  come  so  near  to 
them  that  distance  no  longer  blurred  those  charac- 
teristic details,  on  which  reason  bases  judgment,  I 
discovered  that  seven  golden  trees  which  appeared  in 

*  Remain  in  ignorance  of  anything. 

•The  Muses  to  whom  Dante  makes  invocation;  Helicon, 
whose  waters  of  inspiration  he  craves;  Urania,  the  muse  of 


238  '  DANTE 

front  of  us  were  an  illusion,  for  then  I  (distinguished 
them  as  candlesticks,*  and  I  heard  voices  singing 
"Hosanna."  On  high  this  fair  array  was  blazing 
brighter  far  than  the  full  moon  at  clear  midnight.  Ut- 
terly amazed  I  turned  to  Virgil  and  he  answered  me 
with  a  look  no  less  astonished.  Then  I  turned  back 
to  those  sublime  things  which  were  coming  toward 
us  at  a  pace  slower  than  that  of  new-wedded  brides. 

The  lady  chid  me,  saying: 

"Why  are  you  zealous  only  to  gaze  at  those  living 
lights  and  heedless  of  that  which  is  coming  behind 
them?" 

Then  I  realized  that  there  were  people  following 
the  candlesticks,  as  after  leaders.  Their  raiment 
was  white,  and  such  whiteness  never  was  on  Earth. 
The  shining  water  on  my  left  gave  back  reflections 
like  a  mirror  as  I  looked  at  it.  When  I  reached  a 
place  where  nothing  but  the  stream  intervened,  in 
order  to  see  better,  I  stopped.  And  I  saw  that  the 
flames,  going  on  before,  left  ribbons  of  color  in  the 
air  behind  them.  These  floated  out  like  pennons,  so 
that  they  barred  the  air  overhead  with  seven  stripes 
whose  colors  were  those  with  which  the  sun  paints 
his  bow,  and  Delia^  her  girdle.  These  streamers 
reached  back  farther  than  I  could  see,  and  the  outer 


Astronomy,  and  hence  of  the  heavenly  things  with  which  he 
is  now  to  deal. 

*The  seven  spirits  of  God.    See  Rev.  iv:5. 

•The  moon. 


DANTE  239 

ones  were,  to  the  best  of  my  judgment,  ten  paces 
apart.*  Beneath  so  lovely  a  sky  as  I  describe,  two 
by  two,  came  four  and  twenty  Elders,  crowned  with 
fleur-de-lis.    Together  all  were  chanting : 

"Blessed  art  thou  among  the  daughters  of  Adam, 
and  thy  loveliness  forever  blessed." 

When  the  flowers  and  tender  plants  of  the  oppo- 
site bank  were  free  of  this  congregation  of  the 
elect,^  there  followed,  just  as  star  rises  upon  star  in 
the  firmament,  four  living  creatures,  each  with  a 
coronal  of  green  leaves.  They  had  six  wings  and 
their  feathers  were  full  of  eyes.  The  eyes  of  Argus* 
would  be  such,  were  they  still  alive.  But  to  describe 
them.  Reader,  I  make  no  more  verses,  for  other 
spending®  compels  me  to  save  here.  Go  to  Ezekiel, 
who  pictures  them  as  he  saw  them  come  from  the 
north,  with  wind,  cloud,  and  lightnings;"  and  as 
you  find  them  in  his  pages  such  did  I  see  them,  save 


•No  better  instance  of  the  untrammelled  imagination, 
couched  in  words  of  mathematical  precision,  can  be  found 
elsewhere,  even  in  the  work  of  Dante,  who  for  this  sort  of 
thing  is  famous  among  all  artists;  whose  pictures  are,  for 
this  very  reason,  so  convincingly  real;  whose  art,  like  all 
transcendent  art,  falls  short  of,  and  exceeds,  at  one  and  the 
same  time,  the  phenomena  of  nature  on  which  it  is  based,  and 
to  which  it  is  ever  faithful.  A  sentence  of  the  poet-artist, 
William  Blake,  is  to  the  point.  "To  generalize  is  to  be  an 
idiot.    To  particularize  is  the  great  distinction  of  merit." 

*  The  Elders. 

•Argus,  famous  for  keenness  of  sight,  because  of  his  hun- 
dred eyes. 

"  Of  my  poetical  strength. 

"  Ezekiel  i  :4-7. 


240  DANTE 

that,  as  to  the  wings,  John"  agrees  with  me,  and 
not  with  Ezekiel. 

In  the  space  between  these  four  living  creatures^* 
was  a  two-wheeled  triumphal  chariot  drawn  by  a 
Griffon/'  His  wings  rose  high  up  between  the  mid- 
most of  the  bars  of  varicolored  light,  nor  did  harm 
to  one  of  them  by  cleaving  it.  So  high  did  they 
rise  that  their  tips  were  lost  to  view.  The  parts  of 
the  Griffon  that  were  bird,  were  golden;  the  rest 
were  scarlet  and  white.  Neither  Africanus  nor  Au- 
gustus delighted  Rome  with  so  splendid  a  chariot; 
but  even  that  of  the  Sun  would  look  poor  by  com- 
parison. By  the  right  wheel  three  ladies"  were 
dancing  in  a  circle.    One  of  them  was  so  rosy  that 


"  Revelations  iv  :8.  Here  again  is  an  extraordinary  instance 
of  the  concreteness  in  reporting  imaginary  things  which 
clothes  report  with  material  reality.  These  three,  Ezekiel, 
John,  Dante,  have  seen  the  same  creatures, — who,  reading 
their  words,  can  doubt  it? — as  plainly  as  the  living  animals  on 
Earth,  but  in  one  respect  Ezekiel  and  John  differ.  When 
Dante's  tuj-n  came,  his  eyes  confirm  John's  seeing  and  report. 
It  is  not  difficult,  in  the  light  of  such  a  passage,  to  under- 
stand what  Emerson  meant  by  saying:  "I  think,  if  I  were 
professor  of  Rhetoric, — teacher  of  the  art  of  writing  well  to 
young  men, — I  should  use  Dante  for  my  text-book.  Como 
hither,  youth,  and  learn  how  the  brook  that  flows  at  the  bot- 
tom of  your  garden,  or  the  farmer  who  ploughs  the  adjacent 
field,  your  father  and  mother,  your  debts  and  credits,  and 
your  web  of  habits  are  the  very  best  basis  of  poetry,  and  the 
material  which  you  must  work  up.  Here  is  an  imagination  that 
rivals  in  closeness  and  precision  the  senses.  But  we^  must 
prize  him  as  we  do  a  rainbow,  we  can  appropriate  nothing  of 
him."    Journals  1849, 

"The  Evangelists. 

"  A  creature  half  lion,  half  eagle,  signifying  the  divine  and 
the  human  natures  in  Christ. 
^_  **  Faith,  Hope,  Charity^^,.^ 


DANTE  241 

in  fire  she  would  have  been  scarcely  distinguishable. 
The  second  looked  as  if  her  flesh  and  bone  were 
emerald.  The  third  was  as  new-fallen  snow.  Now 
their  dancing  seemed  to  be  led  by  the  white,  now  by 
the  red,  the  other  two  keeping  quick  step,  or  slow, 
in  time  with  the  leader."  On  the  left,  four  ladies," 
in  purple  raiment,  were  making  festival,  and  fol- 
lowing the  time  set  by  her  who  had  three  eyes  in 
her^^  head. 

Behind  the  group  which  I  have  described,  I  saw 
come,  two  old  men,  unlike  in  garb,  but  in  bearing 
similar,  both  dignified  and  grave.  One^*  of  them 
appeared  to  be  a  disciple  of  that  great  Hippocrates, 
whom  Nature  made  for  the  creatures  that  she  holds 
dearest ;  the  other^®  showed  a  very  different  disposi- 
tion, carrying  so  shining  and  so  sharp  a  sword  that 
it  made  me  tremble  even  across  the  river.  Then  I 
saw  come,*"  four  persons  of  humble  appearance, 
and  last  of  all  a  solitary  old  man,  walking  in  sleep, 
but  with  lively  countenance.*^  And  these  seven  were 


"Hope,  as  in  reality,  always  following  Faith  or  Charity — 
1.  e.,  Love. 

"  Prudence,  Justice,  Temperance,  Fortitude. 

"  Prudence. 

"  St.  Luke,  "the  beloved  physician." 

»  St.  Paul. 

"St.  James,  St.  Peter,  St.  John,  St  Jude,  representing  the 
Epistles. 

**  St  John  representing  Revelation.  He  is  made  old  in  ref- 
erence to  the  fact  that  he  outlived  all  his  generation,  and  this, 
so  that  he  might  give  more  information  about  Christ  to  the 
new  generation. 


242  DANTE 

:lothed  like  the  first  group,^^  but  in  place  of  lilies 
their  heads  were  crowned  with  roses  and  other  crim- 
son flowers.  To  see  them  at  a  distance  one  would 
have  sworn  they  were  all  on  fire  above  their  brows. 
And  when  the  chariot  had  come  opposite  to  me,  a 
peal  of  thunder  sounded,  and  the  noble  host  ap- 
peared to  be  forbidden  further  progress,  halting 
when  the  leading  ensigns  stopped.^' 

CANTO  XXX 

When  the  seven  candlesticks  of  the  Empyrean — 
which  never  knew  setting  nor  rising,  nor  were  ever 
hidden,  save  by  sin,  had  indicated  his  duty  to  every 
one  there  assembled,  like  the  unrising  and  unsetting 
Bear  by  which  the  mariner  steers  his  course  to  port 
— stopped,  the  Elders,  whose  place  was  between  the 
Griffon  and  the  candlesticks,  turned  to  the  chariot, 
as  to  that  wherein  was  their  peace,  and  one  of  them, 
as  if  sent  from  Heaven,  chanting,  sang: 

"Come  with  me  from  Lebanon,  my  spouse,"  and 
all  the  others  followed.^ 


**  In  white  raiment 

"The  candlesticks. 

*  The  candlesticks  signify  the  seven  spirits  of  God  which 
belong  in  the  first  Heaven,  his  dwelling  place,  the  Empyreaa 
The  constellation  of  the  Bear,  with  its  seven  stars,  is  figura- 
tively used,  and  the  Pole  star,  and  the  mariner,  and  the  sea 
of  life,  are  all  figuratively  employed,  and  carry  clear  implica- 
tions. The  four  and  twenty  Elders  represent  the  inspired 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Chariot  is  the  Church. 
The  words  sung  are  from  the  Song  of  Solomon,    iv  :8. 


DANTE  243 

As  the  blessed  at  the  last  trump  shall  rise  swiftly 
from  the  grave,  singing  Hallelujah  with  mortal  voice 
restored,  so,  at  the  summons  of  the  great  Elder, 
there  uprose  upon  the  divine  chariot  a  hundred  min- 
isters and  messengers  of  life  eternal.  All  were 
saying : 

"Blessed  is  he  that  Cometh  ;"* 

And,  scattering  flowers ; 

"With  generous  hands,  O  give  ye  your  lilies.'" 

Ere  now,  at  dawn,  I  have  seen  the  eastern  sky 
all  rosy,  and  the  other  parts  of  Heaven  beautiful 
and  clear,  and  the  sun,  rising,  remain  long  while 
tempered  behind  mists.  Under  such  a  sky,  and 
within  a  cloud  of  flowers,  uptossed  by  angel  hands, 
and  falling  all  about,  a  lady  with  olive-crown  above 
a  white  veil,  and  robe  of  flame-color,  beneath  a 
green  mantle,  appeared  to  me.*  And  my  spirit 
which  for  so  long  a  time'*  had  not  been  broken  down, 

*  Matthew  xxi  :9. 

•Virgil  ^n.  Vi.  884.  Dante,  by  introducing  this  charming 
line  pays  a  great  honor  to  his  dear  poet  When  Virgil  is 
about  to  go,  and  Beatrice  is  about  to  come,  here  in  the  Earthly 
Paradise,  and  in  the  very  presence  of  the  Church,  Dante  puts 
words  from  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  from  the  ^neid,  into 
the  mouths  of  the  Elders.  The  doing  of  this  thing,  and  the 
way  of  its  doing,  are  alike  lovely. 

"Tutti  diccan:  Bencdicitus,  qui  vents; 
E  fior'gittando  di  sopra  e  dintorno: 
Manibus  o  dale  lilia  plenis." 

Purgatorio  XXX  19-22. 

*The  olive  means  peace  and  wisdom.  White,  green  and 
flame  or  crimson,  are  the  colors  of  Faith,  Hope  and  Charity. 

*  Beatrice  had  been  dead  ten  years. 


244  DANTE 

was  vanquished  by  her  presence,  not  because  I  saw* 
her,  but  because  of  the  inconceivable  effect  she  had 
on  me,  I  felt  the  tremendous  power  of  the  love  of 
bygone  days. 

As  soon  as  this  ennobling  power,  to  which  even  in 
boyhood  I  had  yielded  entire  allegiance,  made  itself 
known,  I  turned  with  that  confidence  which  makes 
a  frightened  child  run  to  his  mother,  to  say  to  Vir- 
gil: 

"Not  a  drop  of  blood  is  in  me  but  trembles ;  I  rec- 
ognize the  signals  of  the  ancient  flame.'" 

But  Virgil  had  taken  himself  away;  Virgil,  be- 
loved father;  Virgil,  to  whom,  for  my  salvation,  I 
had  surrendered  myself  completely.  Nor  was  that 
Earthly  Paradise,  which  our  first  mother  lost  us, 
compensation  enough  to  make  me  hold  back  the 
tears,  which  flowed  down  dark  across  my  dew- 
washed^  cheeks. 

"Dante,  though  Virgil  be  gone  away,  weep  not, 
but  save  your  tears,  for  they  must  yet  flow  for  other 
cause." 

As  an  admiral,  standing  at  prow  or  stem,  reviews 
his  sailors,  urging  them  to  do  their  best,  so,  at  the 
left  side  of  the  chariot — when  I  turned,  hearing  my 


*  Beatrice  is  still  hidden  beneath  her  veil. 

*  Dante  translates  a  line  from  the  JEnetd,  IV.  28,  exactly. 
"Agnosco  vcteris  vestigia  flammce" — and  in  doing  so  con- 
tinues the  tremendous  compliment  already  spoken  of  in 
Note  3. 

*  See  Canto  I,  page  145. 


DANTE  245 

own  name  which  of  necessity  is  here  set  down — I 
beheld  the  lady  who  had  first  appeared  to  me  amid 
the  angelic  cloud  of  flowers,  her  eyes  turned  square 
upon  me  from  across  the  stream.  Although  the 
veil  which  fell  from  her  olive  chaplet,  partially  con- 
cealed her,  regal  in  aspect,  and  still  austere  in  mien, 
she  continued,  speaking  as  one  who  holds  back  his 
warmest  words : 

"Look  carefully  at  me:  truly  I  am,  I  am  indeed 
Beatrice.  How  could  you  approach  this  mountain? 
Did  you  not  know  that  here  man  is  happy  ?" 

My  eyes  c'.opped  to  the  clear  stream,  but,  seeing 
myself  in  it,  I  turned  them  to  the  grass,  so  great 
was  the  shame  upon  my  brow.  She  seemed  stern, 
as  a  mother  sometimes  seems  to  her  son,  for  bitter 
is  the  taste  of  sharp  pity. 

She  kept  silence^  and  all  at  once  the  angels 
chanted : 

"In  Thee,  O  Lord,  do  I  put  my  trust ;"  but  beyond 
the  line,  "Thou  hast  set  my  feet  in  a  large  room," 
they  did  not  sing.°  Even  as  the  snow,  frozen,  blown, 
and  packed  by  the  Sclavonian  winds,  among  the 
living  rafters,"  on  the  ridge  of  Italy,  later  when 
warm  winds  blow,  melts,  and  trickles  through  itself, 
and  the  Earth  steams,  such  was  I,  who,  neither  shed 
tears,  nor  sighed,  before  the  song  of  those  creatures 
whose  chants  are  tuned  eternally  to  the  music  of  the 

•  Psalm  xxxi  :l-8. 

"The  trees  upon  the  Apennines.  '        _ 


246  DANTE 

spheres.  Buit  when  in  their  sweet  harmonies  I  real- 
ized there  was  greater  pity  for  me  than  if  they  had 
said:  "Lady,  why  do  you  so  shame  him?"  the  ice 
that  was  fixed  hard  around  my  heart  turned  to  steam 
and  water,  and,  in  anguish,  surged  forth  from  my 
breast  through  mouth  and  eyes. 

Beatrice  speaks  to  the  angels,  sayingl 

"For  a  time  I  supported  him  with  my  face ;  and, 
showing  him  my  young  eyes,  I  led  him  in  the  right 
way.  When  I  had  come  to  the  threshold  of  my 
second  age,^^  changing  mortal  for  immortal  life,  he 
abandoned  me  and  gave  himself  to  others.  When 
I  had  risen  from  flesh  to  spirit,  and  my  beauty  and 
my  virtue  were  increased,  I  became  less  dear  and 
pleasing  to  him,  and  he  turned  his  feet  from  the 
right  path,  in  pursuit  of  seeming,  but  not  real, 
good,  which  pays  no  promise  in  full.  Nor  were  the 
heavenly  warnings  which  I  obtained  for  him, 
dreams  and  inspirations,  of  avail  to  call  him  back, 
so  little  did  he  heed  them.  So  low  had  he  fallen 
that  every  plan  for  his  salvation  was  insufficient, 
save  showing  him  the  damned.  To  bring  this  to 
pass  I  visited  the  gate  of  the  dead,  and  to  that  one^* 
who  guided  him  up  hither,  I  prayed  with  tears. 

"God's  high  command  would  be  transgressed,  if 
Lethe  should  be  crossed,  and  its  water  should  be 


"  She  was  leaving  youth  at  the  time  her  death  occurred. 
_  "Virgil, 


DANTE  247, 

quaffed  without  the  tax  of  such  repentance  as  is 
paid  with  tears." 

CANTO  XXXI 

"O  you  who  are  on  the  far  side  of  this  sacred 
stream,"  said  she,  continuing  without  break,  and 
turning  the  point  of  her  argument  upon  me,  which 
even  edgewise  had  cut  so  keenly : 

"Say,  say,  if  this  is  true?  to  such  a  tremendous 
accusation  your  own  confession  must  be  made." 

My  faculties  were  so  confused,  that  my  voice, 
rising,  died  before  it  reached  my  lips.  She  waited 
a  little,  then  said : 

"What  are  you  thinking  about  ?  Answer  me,  for 
this  water  has  not  yet  washed  away  the  bitter  mem- 
ories in  your  heart." 

Shame  and  fear  together  forced  such  a  faint 
"Yes"  from  me,  that,  to  hear  it,  her  eyes  must  needs 
have  read  my  lips. 

Beatrice  goes  on  and  chides  him  still  further, 
saying : 

"And  what  allurements,  or  what  compensations, 
did  other  faces  promise  that  they  could  lead  you 
astray  ?" 

Heaving  a  dismal  sigh,  I  had  scarcely  voice 
enough  to  answer,  and,  only  with  difficulty,  could  my 
lips  utter  it.    In  tears  I  said : 


248  DANTE 

"The  present  things  of  life,  and  the  deceitful 
pleasures  of  Earth  led  me  astray,  so  soon  as  your 
face  was  hidden." 

She  said : 

"Had  you  kept  silence,  or  had  you  denied  what 
you  have  confessed,  your  sin  would  be  no  less  evi- 
dent, by  such  a  Judge  is  it  known.  But  when  the 
accusation  of  sin  bursts  from  the  sinner's  own  lips, 
then  in  our  Court,  the  grindstone  turns  back  against 
the  edge.^  But  in  order  that  you  may  still  feel 
shame  for  the  error  of  your  ways,  and  that  when 
you  again  hear  the  Sirens  you  may  be  stronger,  dry 
your  tears,  and  listen;  for  you  shall  hear  how  my 
buried  flesh  should  have  led  you  in  the  opposite 
course.  Never  did  nature  or  art  set  such  pleasure 
before  you  as  the  fair  form  I  had  in  life,  and 
which  now  is  dust.  But  if  supreme  joy  was  taken 
from  you  by  my  death,  what  mortal  thing  should 
afterward  have  moved  your  love?  You  should  in- 
deed have  risen  at  the  first  arrow-prick  of  mor- 
tality, after  me  who  had  put  on  immortality." 

As  children,  silent  with  shame,  stand,  looking  on 
the  ground,  listening,  conscience-stricken,  and  re- 
pentant, so  I  stood.    And  she  said : 

"Since  hearing  grieves  you,  lift  up  your  beard  and 
you  shall  suffer  greater  grief  through  seeing." 


*In  the  court  of  Heaven  the  grindstone  turns  with  the 
sword  of  justice,  so  that  the  edge  grows  ever  sharper;  but 
when  confession  comes  it  turns  the  stone  back,  that  is,  blunts 
the  edge  of  the  sword. 


DANTE  249 

Easier  is  a  sturdy  oak  uprooted  by  a  north,  or 
southeast  wind,  than  it  was  for  me  to  Hft  my  chin 
at  her  command.  And  when  by  the  beard  she  asked 
for  my  eyes,  full  well  I  understood  the  sting  of  her 
allusion.^  And  when  I  had  lifted  my  face,  I  saw 
that  the  angels  had  ceased  strewing  flowers,  and  my 
eyes,  as  yet  but  little  reassured,  saw  Beatrice  turned 
toward  the  animal  that  is  one  person  only,  in  two- 
fold nature.^  Even  beneath  her  veil,  and  beyond  the 
stream,  she  seemed  to  me  to  more  exceed  her  mor- 
tal beauty  than  on  Earth  she  surpassed  the  beauty 
of  all  others.  The  nettle  of  repentance  so  stung  me, 
that  of  all  other  things*  that  which  had  gained  most 
of  my  love  was  that  which  now  I  most  abhorred. 
So  overcome  was  I  by  self -acknowledged  guilt  that 
I  swooned,  and  what  I  then  became  she*^  knows, 
who  was  the  cause. 

Then  when  I  came  back  to  consciousness  I  saw 
standing  over  me  the  lady  whom  I  had  discovered, 
wandering,  solitary,  and  she  was  saying : 

"Hold  to  me,  hold  to  me.'* 

She  had  drawn  me  into  the  stream  up  to  the 
throat,  and  was  dragging  me  after  her,  she  herself 


'Dante,  although  he  had  a  beard,  and  was  a  man,  still 
lacked  the  wisdom  and  restraint  which  should  accompany 
manhood,  is  the  meaning. 

*The  Griffon,  Christ,  one  person  in  twofold  nature,  i.  e., 
God,  and  man. 

*  Whatever  had  attracted  him  most,  after  the  death  of 
Beatrice,  is  what  he  now  most  hates. 

•  Beatrice. 


250  DANTE 

moving  on  the  water  light  as  a  shuttle.  Nearing 
the  blessed  shore®  I  heard,  "Purge  me,"^  so  sweetly 
chanted,  that  I  can  not  recall  it,  and  much  less  can 
I  write  it.  The  beautiful  lady  opened  her  arms,  put 
them  about  my  head,  and  immersed  me  so  that  I  was 
obliged  to  swallow  the  water.  Then  she  drew  me 
forth,  and  led  me,  still  wet,  within  the  circle  of  the 
four  beautiful  creatures,^  and  each  of  them  put  her 
arm  about  me. 

"Here  we  are  nymphs,  and  in  Heaven  we  are 
stars;®  before  Beatrice  descended  to  Earth  we  were 
appointed  to  be  her  handmaids.  We  will  lead  you 
to  her  lovely  eyes,  but  in  order  to  see  the  light  of 
joy  that  is  in  them,  your  vision  must  be  quickened 
by  the  three,  on  the  far  side  of  the  chariot,  whose 
insight  is  deeper  than  ours."^® 

Singing  these  sentences,  they  began ;  then  led  me 
to  the  breast  of  the  Griffon,  where  Beatrice  was 
standing,  turned  toward  us, 

"See  to  it,"  said  they,  "that  you  stint  not  your 
gaze ;  we  have  set  you  before  the  emeralds,**  whence, 


•  When  he  entered  the  Earthly  Paradise.  Blessed  shore  be- 
cause that  on  which  Beatrice  is  standing. 

*  "Purge  me  with  hyssop,  and  I  shall  be  clean :  wash  me,  and 
I  shall  be  whiter  than  snow."    Psalm  li  :7. 

"Justice,  Temperance,  Prudence  and  Fortitude. 

•These  four  (see  Note  8),  the  Cardinal  Virtues,  lead  up  to 
Theology,  the  science  of  heavenly' things.  They  are  the  four 
bright  stars  (see  Purg.  VIII),  which  threw  such  strong  light 
on  the  face  of  Cato,  see  Purg.  I. 

"Faith,  Hope  and  Charity,  the  virtues  needed  for  pene- 
trating the  mysteries  that  underlie  Theolog>'. 

"  The  eyes  of  Beatrice.    Dante  more  4Jba!l  pnce  refers  to 


DANTE  251 

in  days  gone  "by,  Love  drew  his  darts  against 
you." 

A  thousand  desires  hotter  than  fire  riveted  my 
eyes  upon  her  eyes,  that  now,  for  me,  again  were 
shining.  But  they  remained  fixed  upon  the  Griffon. 
In  them  I  beheld  the  twofold  animal  reflected  as 
brightly  as  the  sun  in  a  mirror,  first  one,  and  then 
his  other  nature.*^ 

Think,  Reader,  if  I  marveled  when  I  saw  the 
thing  remain  motionless  in  itself,  and  yet,  in  its  re- 
flection, undergo  change. 

While  my  soul,  o'erflowing  with  awe  and  glad- 
ness, was  feasting  on  that  food  which  both  satisfies 
and  whets  the  appetite,  those  other  three  came  for- 
ward. Their  bearing  showed  that  they  were  of  a 
more  exalted  order,  as  they  danced  to  the  caroling 
of  the  angels.    The  words  they  sang  were: 

"Turn,  turn  your  eyes,  O  Beatrice,  upon  your 
faithful  one,  who  has  come  so  far  to  see  you.  Of 
your  grace  grant  us  the  grace  of  unveiling  your 
mouth^'  to  him,  so  that  he  may  see  the  second  beauty 
which  you  conceal." 

O  splendor  of  living  and  everlasting  light!  Who 
is  there  who  ever  grew  pale  in  the  shadows  of  Par- 

the  green  color  of  her  eyes.  Longfellow  says  that  green  eyes 
are  praised  by  Spanish  poets  and  by  poets  of  others  countries 
too. 

"An  eagle,  madam, 

Hath  not  so  green,  so  quick,  so  fair  an  eye, 
As  Paris  hath."    Romeo  &nd  Juliet,  Act  III,  Sc.  v. 
"  The  human  and  the  divine. 

"Her  eyes  are  demonstration  of  truth;  the  smile  of  her 
mouth  persuasion  to  truth. 


252  DANTE 

nassus,  or  drunk  at  its  well,  that  would  not  have  a 
mind  o'erburdened  were  he  to  attempt  to  picture 
you  as  you  appeared,  disclosed  to  full  view,  in  that 
place  where  the  harmony  of  Heaven  enfolds  you? 

CANTO  xxxn 

My  eyes  were  so  fixed  and  intent  upon  satisfying 
their  ten  years'  thirst,  that  my  other  senses  alto- 
gether lapsed.  To  right  and  left  everything  was 
equally  indifferent  to  me,  so  completely  did  her 
saintly  smile  enthrall  my  vision  in  its  former  toils. 

The  three  Virtues,  Faith,  Hope  and  Charity,  tell 
Dante  that  he  is  neglecting  other  important  things 
in  his  rapt  delight  at  seeing  Beatrice.  Thereupon 
he  recovers  from  the  dazzling  effect  of  her  presence 
and  sees  that ; 

the  glorious  procession  had  wheeled  upon  its  right 
flank,  and  was  returning  with  the  sun  and  the  seven 
candlesticks  in  its  face. 

Presently  the  Virtues,  three  in  one,  and  four  in 
the  other  group,  return  to  their  stations  beside  the 
wheels  of  the  chariot, 

and  the  Griffon  moved  his  holy  burden,  but  so  care- 
fully that  not  a  feather  of  him  shook.     The  fair 


DANTE  253 

lady^  who  had  drawn  me  through  the  stream,  and 
Statius,  and  I,  followed  at  the  right  wheel.  Thus, 
we  made  our  progress  through  that  high  forest, 
empty  of  people  because  of  her  who  trusted  to  the 
serpent,  the  song  of  angels  being  music  for  our 
march. 

They  have  advanced  but  a  short  way  when, 

Beatrice  descended,''  and  I  heard  all,  complaining, 
murmur,'  "Adam !"  Then  they  circled  about  a  tree* 
whose  every  bough  was  stripped  of  flower  and  leaf. 

Then  the  saints  declare  the  Griffon  blessed  be- 
cause he  does  not  strip  off  the  bark,  or  taste  of  the 
tree,  which,  sweet  to  the  lips,  brings  suffering  later 
on.    To  this  declaration  the  Griffon  answers : 

*Tt  is  so,  that  the  seed  of  all  righteousness  must 
be  preserved." 

And,  turning  to  the  pole  by  which  he  had  drawn 
the  chariot,  he  dragged  it  to  the  foot  of  the  bare 
tree,  and  there  fastened,  what  was  the  same  as  it- 
self.» 


*  Matilda. 

*  From  the  chariot.    The  act  signifies  obedience,  the  opposite 
of  Eve's  procedure. 

*  Because  of  the  results  of  his  disobedience,  sin  came  into 
the  world. 

*  The  Tree  of  Knowledge. 

•The  pole  was  wood  like  the  tree,  and,  according  to  an 
ancient  legend,  the  Cross  was  made  out  of  it 


254  DANTE    ' 

As  the  trees  of  Earth  in  spring  begin  to  swell,  and 
each  takes  on  its  natural  tinge,  so  did  this  tree, 
whose  branches  had  been  bare,  bud  forth  and  take 
on  a  color  that  was  paler  than  roses  but  deeper  than 
violets.  I  did  not  understand,  nor  on  Earth  is  sung, 
the  h3'^mn  which  that  assembly  then  chanted,  nor 
could  I  catch  the  melody  to  its  close. 

For  this  reason  Dante  falls  asleep.  Later  he  is 
waked  by  a  dazzling  light,  and  voices  that  call : 

"Arise,  what  is  this  that  you  are  doing?" 

As  when  Peter,  and  John,  and  James,  taken  to 
behold  the  Transfiguration,  fell  asleep,  and  were 
aroused  at  the  word  by  which  infinitely  more  pro- 
found slumbers  have  been  broken,"  saw  their  com- 
pany lessened  by  the  departure  of  Moses  and  Elias, 
and  their  Master's  raiment  changed,''  so  did  I  come 
to  myself,  and  see  standing  over  me  that  compas- 
sionate lady*  who  had  guided  my  steps  along  the 
margin  of  the  stream.    Utterly  confused,  I  said : 

"Where  is  Beatrice?" 

And  she : 

"Behold  her  under  the  new  leaves,  sitting  at  the 
root  of  the  tree.  Behold  the  company  that  encircles 
her  while  the  others,  with  song  of  sweeter  tone  and 
deeper  meaning,  go  on  high,  following  the  Griffon. 


•  The  word  of  Christ  waking  the  dead  to  life. 
'  Matthew  xvii  :l-8. 
•  Matilda. 


DANTE  '255 

"In  this  forest  you  shall  dwell  but  little  while,  but 
eternally  with  me  shall  you  be  a  citizen  of  that  Rome 
of  which  Christ  is  a  Roman,  Therefore,  for  the 
sake  of  the  world,  the  ways  of  which  are  evil,  keep 
your  eyes  fixed  on  the  chariot;  and  mind  you  write 
what  you  see  when  you  shall  have  returned  to 
Earth." 

Beatrice  said  these  words,  and  I  who  held  her 
commands  in  reverence,  gave  mind  and  eye  to  that 
which  she  designated.  I  saw  Jove's  bird  swoop 
down  through  the  tree,  tearing  off  bark,  flowers 
and  leaves.  He  struck  the  chariot  with  all  his  might. 
It  reeled  like  a  ship  in  a  gale,  driven  now  to  star- 
board, now  to  port,  by  the  waves.*  Then  I  saw 
a  she  fox,  lean  for  want  of  good  food,  leap  into 
the  triumphal  car,  but,  rebuking  her  for  her  ugly 
sins,  my  lady  put  her  to  such  flight  as  her  fleshless 
bones  would  allow.*"  Then  I  saw  the  Eagle,  as  he 
had  before,  come  down  into  the  chariot  and  leave 
it  covered  with  his  feathers.  And  from  Heaven 
there  came  such  a  voice  as  issues  from  a  sore-grieved 
heart,  and  said : 

"O  my  little  ship,  with  what  an  evil  cargo  are 
you  laden !"" 

Then  I  thought  that  the  ground  yawned  between 

•This  signifies  the  persecution  of  the  early  Church  by  the 
emperors. 

"Beatrice  as  the  symbol  of  theology,  the  knowledge  of 
divine  things,  puts  heresy,  the  fox,  to  rout. 

"This  refers  to  tlie  F.mperor  Constantine's  supposed  dona- 
tion, or  the  endowing  of  tlie  Church  with  worldly  possessions. 


256  DANTE 

the  wheels,  and  that  a  dragon  came  forth  and  thrust 
his  tail  upward  through  the  chariot,  and  that  he 
drew  back  his  tail,  as  a  wasp  his  sting,  and  that 
he  tore  off  part  of  the  floor  and  went  his  evil  way/' 
What  was  left  of  the  chariot,  as  good  Earth  with 
grass,  covered  itself  with  new  feathers,  given  per- 
chance with  holy  and  well-meant  purpose.  Both  the 
wheels  and  the  pole  were  covered  in  less  time  than 
it  takes  a  sigh  to  pass  the  lips."  Thus  transformed, 
the  sacred  structure  grew  heads  on  all  its  parts, 
three  on  the  pole,  and  one  on  each  comer.  The 
former  had  horns  like  oxen,  but  the  four  had  each 
a  single  horn  upon  the  forehead.**  Such  a  monster 
was  never  seen  before.  Secure  as  a  citadel  on  some 
lofty  mountain,  there  appeared,  sitting  on  the  char- 
iot, a  disheveled  harlot,"  fierce  and  brazen.  And 
as  if  to  guard  against  her  being  taken  from  him,  I 
saw  a  giant  standing  at  her  side,  and  now  and  then 
they  kissed  each  other.  But,  because  she  cast  her 
wanton,  roving  eye  on  me,  that  savage  and  unlawful 
lover  scourged  her  from  head  to  foot.*^    Then,  full 

"This  probably  refers  to  a  schism  of  the  Church  in  the 
ninth  century. 

"The  refeathering  means  the  increase  of  donations  which 
were  made  to  the  Church,  perhaps  well  meant;  i.  e.,  for  the 
good  of  the  Church,  and  not  for  selfish  or  ulterior  ends. 

"These  heads  signify  the  deadly  sins,  Pride,  Envy,  Anger, 
on  the  pole,  and  Sloth,  Avarice,  Gluttony  and  Lust  at  the 
corners,  their  development  and  growth  being  due  to  the 
wealth  and  worldly  power  which  the  Church  had  acquired. 

"  Revelation  xviii  :3.  The  imagery  throughout  this  re- 
markable figurative  history  of  the  Church  is  taken  from  the 
same  source. 

"The  harlot  means  the  Pope,  and  the  giant  the  king  of 


DANTE  257 

of  jealousy,  and  mad  with  rage,  he  loosed  the  mon- 
ster, and  dragged  it  so  far  into  the  wood  that  the 
forest  itself  shielded  me  from  the  harlot,  and  this 
newly  created  beast/^ 

CANTO  XXXIII 

This  canto  opens  with  a  splendid  lament  over 
the  outrages  which  the  Qiurch  on  Earth  is  suf- 
fering at  the  hands  of  temporal  monarchs.  Beatrice 
prophesies  about  the  restoration  of  the  Empire,  and 
then  follows  that  lovely  passage  describing  Dante's 
going  through  Eunoe,  and  being  cleansed  alike  of 
sin,  and  of  the  memory  of  sin,  and  so  at  last  pre- 
pared to  enter  Heaven.  The  canto  closes  Purgatory 
with  the  same  quiet  as  that  with  which  Hell  closes, 
and  the  final  word  here,  as  in  Hell,  is  "stelle,"  stars. 
It  is  no  vain  image,  that  which  calls  The  Divine 
Comedy  a  "starry  pointing  pyramid." 

"O  God,  the  heathen  are  come,"^  the  ladies  be- 
gan, phon  and  antiphon,  now  the  three,  now  the 
four,  this  sweet  anthem  with  tears:  and  Beatrice, 
sighing  and  compassionate,  listened  to  them  with  a 
countenance  but  little  less  changed  than  Mary's  as 

France,  referring  probably  to  the  French  jealousy  of  any 
influence  with  the  Papacy  save  its  own. 

"  Dragging  the  chariot,  now  become  a  beast,  away  from  the 
tree  to  which  the  Griffon  had  left  it  tethered,  may  mean  the 
removal  of  the  Papacy  from  Rome  to  Avignon,  in  1305. 

*The  seven  Virtues  (the  ladies)  sing  the  whole  of  the 
seventy-ninth  Psaltn  of  which  this  line  is  the  beginning. 


258  DANTE 

she  stood  beside  the  cross.  But  when  the  other  vir- 
gins made  way  for  her  to  speak,  risen  erect  she  an- 
swered, red  as  fire: 

"  *A  little  while,  and  ye  shall  not  see  me :'  my  be- 
loved Sisters,  'and  again,  a  little  while,  and  ye  shall 
see  me.'  "^ 

Then  she  sent  the  seven  on  before,  and  by  the 
merest  gesture,  made  me,  and  the  Lady  Matilda, 
and  Statins,  who  still  remained,  know  that  we  were 
to  follow  her.  Thus  she  moved  forward,  and  I  do 
not  think  that  she  had  taken  her  tenth  step,  when 
she  turned  her  eyes  full  on  mine  and  said,  with 
countenance  serene: 

"Come  more  forward,  so  that  if  I  speak  to  you, 
you  may  be  where  you  can  hear." 

So  soon  as  I  was  at  her  side  as  I  should  be,  she 
said  to  me: 

"Brother,  why  do  you  not  dare  to  ask  questions 
of  me,  now  that  you  are  with  me?" 

Dante  replies  to  Beatrice  that  she  knows  what 
he  wishes  to  be  told,  and  what  he  should  be  told. 
Thereupon  she  begins  to  explain  the  significance  of 
what  he  has  just  seen. 

"Know  that  the  vessel  which  the  serpent  broke. 


*John  xvi:16.  Beatrice,  crimson  with  indignation  over  the 
abuses  of  the  Church,  signified  by  the  Psalm  which  she  has 
heard,  answers  with  these  words,  which  are  meant  in  part 
as  prophecy,  and  part  as  an  inspiration  for  the  return  of  the 
Papacy  to  Rome. 


DANTE  259 

was,  and  is  not,'  but  let  him  whose  fault  it  is  be 
sure  that  the  vengeance  of  God  is  not  to  be  put 
off  by  any  sop.  The  Eagle  that  left  its  feathers  on 
the  car,  whereby  it  became  a  monster,  and  later  a 
prey,*  shall  not  be  forever  without  an  heir,  for  I 
see  clearly,  and  beyond  doubt  the  stars  tell  it,  a  time 
when,  secure  against  every  obstacle  and  hindrance, 
those  sent  by  God  shall  slay  the  harlot  and  the  giant 
who  is  sinning  with  her.  Mark  well,  and  as  my 
words  were  uttered,  tell  them,  to  those  who  are  in 
that  life  which  is  a  race  unto  death.  And  when 
you  write  them  down,  remember  not  to  hide  the 
plight  in  which  you  saw  the  tree  which  has  been 
twice  despoiled.^  Whoever  robs  or  breaks  it,  with 
blasphemous  act  offends  God,  Who,  and  for  His 
own  use,  created  it  holy." 

The  time  approaches  noon  and  Dante  says  that. 

The  seven  ladies  stopped  on  the  edge  of  a  pale 
shadow  such  as  high  mountains  throw  across  icy 
streams  flowing  beneath  dark  green  needles  and 
black  boughs.  In  front  of  them  it  seemed  to  me 
that  I  saw  Euphrates  and  Tigris  issuing  from  one 
source,  and,  like  friends,  depart  slowly  from  each 
other. 

"O  Light,  O  Glory  of  the  human  race,  what  is 

*  The  chariot.    "The  beast  that  thou  sawest  was,  and  is  not" 
Revelation  xvii  :8. 

*  Of  the  giant. 

*  Once  by  Adam,  and  once  by  the  giant. 


260  DANTE 

this  water  which  here  gushes  forth  from  one  spring, 
and  then  divides  itself  in  two?" 

To  my  petition  came  the  answer : 
-  "Pray,  Matilda,  to  tell  it  you." 

At  this,  that  beautiful  lady,  like  one  who  frees 
himself  of  blame,  replied : 

"This  and  other  things  have  I  told  him,  and  I  am 
sure  that  the  waters  of  Lethe  have  not  washed  them 
from  his  memory." 

And  Beatrice : 

"It  may  be  that  some  heavier  care,  which  often- 
times destroys  the  memory,  has  clouded  his  inner 
vision.  But  behold  Eunoe  which  yonder  gushes 
forth ;  as  is  your  custom  lead  him  to  it,  and  revive 
his  failing  powers." 

Like  a  gentle  soul  which  offers  no  excuse,  but 
makes  another's  will  its  own  as  soon  as  ever  that 
will  is  manifest,  the  lovely  lady"  put  her  hand  upon 
me,  moved  forward,  and  to  Statins,  with  the  cour- 
tesy of  high  breeding,  said :   "Come  with  him." 

If,  Reader,  I  had  more  space  for  writing,  I  would, 
in  part  at  least,  sing  of  that  sweet  draught  which 
never  could  have  sated  me.  But  in  as  much  as  all 
the  leaves  allotted  to  this  second  canticle  are  now 
full,  the  limits  of  my  art  forbid  me  to  go  farther. 

From  that  most  sacred  water  I  came  forth,  re- 
newed, as  trees  with  spring  foliage,  purified,  and  fit 
to  mount  unto  the  stars. 

•  Matilda. 


PARADISE 


CANTO  I 


DANTE  brings  his  trilogy  to  a  close  with  Para- 
dise, and  therein  describes  the  best  that  he 
knows  of  this  world,  woman,  transfigured;  and,  so 
far  as  very  wonderful  words  will  allow,  God.  God- 
head, and  perfect  humanity, — creature,  and  condi- 
tion, both  unknowable,  yet  believed  in  by  number- 
less men,  Dante  manages  to  make  seem  real.  In 
one  place  he  says  we  attribute  hands  and  feet  to 
God  and  mean  something  else.  And  so  do  we  all, 
even  when  we  "belittle  Him  with  sex."  Nor  are 
saints  much  easier  to  conceive  of  and  to  under- 
stand ;  yet  they,  too,  in  Dante's  Paradise,  are  made 
convincing.  So  likewise  is  the  place  itself,  which 
eye  has  not  seen,  as  Dante  pictures  it  in  the  thirty- 
three  cantos  of  his  third  canticle. 

Feeling,  beauty,  reason,  of  themselves  intense, 
and  molten  into  a  perfect  harmony,  together  with 
light,  sound,  fragrance  and  motion,  are  the  mate- 
rials out  of  which  the  poet  has  woven  the  lovely 
web  of  words  for  which  praise  borders  upon  im- 
pertinence.    But  what  must  those  thoughts  have 

261 


262 


DANTE 


PARADISE 


DANTE  263 

been  like,  which  filled  Dante's  head,  and  heart,  if 
we  believe,  with  Shelley,  that,  "when  composition 
begins,  inspiration  is  already  on  the  decline,  and 
the  most  glorious  poetry  that  has  ever  been  com- 
municated to  the  world  is  probably  a  feeble  shadow 
of  the  original  conceptions  of  the  poet"!  On  one 
hand,  as  the  Paradise  advances,  he  must  be  little 
interested  in  words,  and  all  of  power  they  may 
hold,  who  does  not  realize  that  he  is  in  the  presence 
of  a  master  of  the  "just  shades  of  language."  On 
the  other,  and  vastly  more  important  hand,  he  must 
be  hard  of  heart,  as  he  reads  on,  who  does  not  read 
anew  the  vital  meaning  of  Wordsworth's  lines: 

"In  such  access  of  mind,  in  such  high  hour 
Of  visitation  from  the  living  God 
Thought  was  not;  in  enjoyment  it  expired." 

And  finally,  it  is  as  fortunate,  as  it  is  blessed,  for 
the  man  for  whom  "verses"  really  are  "as  spells 
which  unseal  the  inmost  enchanted  fountains  of  de- 
light which  is  the  grief  of  love.  It  is  impossible  to 
feel  them  without  becoming  a  portion  of  that  beauty 
which  we  contemplate." 

The  glory  of  Him  who  moves  all  things  pene- 
trates the  whole  universe  and  shines  in  one  part 
more,  and  in  another  less.  I  have  been  in  that 
Heaven  which  receives  the  most  of  His  light,  and 
therein  I  saw  things  which  he  who  returns  to  Earth 
has  neither  the  knowledge  nor  the  power  to  tell,  be- 


264  DANTE 

cause,  as  our  soul  draws  near  to  the  attainment  of 
its  utmost  desire,  which  is  to  behold  God,  under- 
standing becomes  so  profound  that  memory  can  not 
keep  pace  with  it.  So  much,  however,  of  the  blessed 
realm  as  my  mind  retains  shall  now  become  the  sub- 
ject of  my  song. 

O  supreme  Apollo,  for  this  last  effort  grant  me 
such  strength  as  you  require  of  him  who  is  to  win 
the  much  loved  laurel.  Thus  far  one  summit  of 
Parnassus  has  sufficed  me,  but  I  need  the  help  of 
both*  for  my  remaining  labor.  Enter  into  my  heart 
and  make  me  such  as  you  yourself  were  in  the  con- 
test with  Marsyas.^  O  divine  Power,  if  you  but 
grant  me  so  much  of  your  spirit  as  will  enable  me  to 
draw  the  picture  of  the  Blessed  Realm,  as  it  is  now 
stamped  upon  my  mind,  you  shall  see  me  approach 
your  chosen  laurel  and  crown  myself  with  those 
leaves  for  which  my  subject  and  you  have  made  me 
worthy.  So  seldom.  Father,  are  they  plucked,  for 
triumph  of  Caesar,  or  of  poet,  fault  and  shame  of 
human  choosing,  that  the  Peneian  leaf  ought  to 
bring  gladness  to  the  joyous  Delphic  god  whenever 
poetry  makes  any  man  want  to  be  crowned  with  it. 
Great  flame  may  follow;  a  little  spark ;  after  me  per- 


*  Parnassus  had  two  peaks,  one  the  Muses' ;  the  other, 
Apollo's.  Dante  beseeches  the  Muses  to  aid  him  in  singing 
of  Hell  and  Purgatory,  but  for  his  Paradise  he  calls  on  Apollo 
as  well. 

*  Capable  of  victory  as  Apollo  was  when  he  overcame 
Marsyas. 


DANTE  265 

haps  some  one  will  pray  a  prayer  more  worthy 
Cyrrha's^  granting. 

After  these  opening  passages,  one,  a  sort  of 
proem,  in  which  Dante  tells  us  what  his  subject  is 
to  be,  and  the  other,  a  solemn  invocation  to  Apollo 
and  the  Muses,  he  continues  with  an  account  of  his 
own  transhumanizing  whereby  he  became  such  a 
being  as  can  ascend  through  the  spheres.  And  this 
is  what  he  now  does,  with  Beatrice  for  guide.  The 
hour  is  noon,  and  the  season  is  spring,  Easter  but 
short  time  past.  He  entered  Hell  at  sundown,  and 
Purgatory  at  dawn,  least,  and  most  hopeful,  hours 
of  the  twenty- four.  But  "sacred,  high,  eternal 
noon,"  what  Dante  has  himself  described  as  "the 
noblest  hour  of  all  the  day,"  he  chooses  for  the 
ascent  into  glory. 

I  saw  Beatrice  gazing  upon  the  sun.  Never  did 
eagle  so  fix  himself  upon  it.  And  all  at  once  day 
seemed  to  be  added  unto  day,  as  if  He  who  has  the 
power  had  adorned  the  heavens  with  a  second  sun. 

In  this  passage  Dante  rises  above  himself  as  every 
man,  and  most  of  all  men,  a  poet,  must,  when  in  the 
practise  of  any  one  of  the  beautiful  arts  he  takes  the 
last  step  in  the  gracilis  ad  Parnassiim.     He  makes 

•Cyrrha,  a  city  dedicated  to  Apollo,  and  situated  near  the 
foot  of  Parnassus. 


2(^  DANTE 

the  impossible  seem  possible,  and  thereby  makes  his 
approach  into  Paradise  seem  real.  He  presents  an 
inconceivable  thing  in  such  a  guise  that  it  becomes 
conceivable.  No  man  ever  came  closer  to  describing 
what  eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard.  Wordsworth 
came  just  as  close  when,  in  the  sixth  book  of  The 
Prelude,  he  also  took  the  last  step  in  the  ascent  of 
Parnassus,  and  wrote  the  lines : 

"...    a  joy 
Above  all  joys,  that  seemed  another  morn 
Risen  on  midnoon ;" 

Beatrice  was  standing,  her  gaze  entirely  centered 
on  the  eternal  spheres,  and  I,  with  mine,  wholly 
upon  her.  Looking  at  her  I  was  transformed  as 
Glaucus  was  at  the  time  when  he  tasted  the  herb 
that  changed  him  into  a  god.  The  change  from  an 
earthly  to  a  heavenly  body  can  not  be  described  in 
words;  the  example  of  Glaucus  must  satisfy  him  for 
whom  Divine  Grace  holds  such  experience  in  store. 
If  I  were  nought  but  living  soul,  which  is  the  last 
part  of  man  created,  O  Love  that  governs  Heaven, 
well  do  You  know  that  it  was  Your  light,  shining 
through  the  eyes  of  Beatrice,  which  carried  me  on 
high.  When  that  ceaseless  turning,  which  the  heav- 
enly spheres  got  from  You,  because  of  their  desire 
for  You,  attracted  me  by  its  harmony,  which  is  of 
your  tuning  and  composing,  to  my  eyes  the  whole 
celestial  realm  appeared  to  be  one  vast  sea  of  flame, 
fired  by  the  sun. 


DANTE  267 

The  unknown  quality  of  this  harmony,  and  the 
fierceness  of  this  light,  gave  me  such  thirst  for 
knowledge  as  I  had  never  before  experienced.  Be- 
cause of  which,  Beatrice,  who  saw  me  as  I  see 
myself,  began  to  answer  even  before  my  lips  had 
formed  the  question.    She  said : 

"You  cloud  your  understanding  with  false  fan- 
cies, so  that  you  do  not  comprehend  what  you  would 
comprehend,  had  you  rid  your  mind  of  them.  You 
are  no  longer  on  Earth,  as  you  imagine,  but  light- 
ning never  made  such  haste,  as  you,  to  return 
hither.". 

Dante,  satisfied  with  this  explanation  of  the 
amazing  light  and  the  marvelous  harmony,  immedi- 
ately demands  to  know  how  he,  in  his  solid  flesh, 
has  managed  to  transcend  the  light  air,  at  which,  he 
tells  us  that  Beatrice, 

sighing  for  pity,  turned  her  eyes  upon  me  with  the 
expression  which  comes  over  a  mother's  face  as 
she  watches  her  child  in  the  delirium  of  fever. 

Then  follows  a  difficult  explanation,  half  scien- 
tific, half  philosophical,  and  by  no  means  satisfac- 
tory, the  essence  of  which  is  that  God  has  willed  a 
miracle.  The  final  words  are  as  notable  as  they 
are  persuasive  in  their  simple  loveliness. 

"You  should  not,  if  I  am  right,  feel  more  wonder 
at  your  ascent,  than  at  the  down-flowing  of  a  stream 


268  DANTE 

from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  a  mountain.  The 
wonder  would  be,  if,  deprived  as  you  now  are  of 
the  hindrance  of  sin,  you  had  remained  below  on 
Earth,  a  thing  that  would  be  as  strange  as  perfect 
quiet  in  fire." 

And  herewith  she  turned  her  face  once  more  upon 
the  spheres. 

CANTO  II 

The  Heaven  of  the  Moon.  This  canto  opens  with 
a  brief  proem  of  its  own.  In  it  Dante  likens  a  man 
of  small  learning  and  imagination  to  a  little  vessel, 
warning  all  such  that,  while  a  boat  of  this  size  is 
good  enough  for  Hell  and  Purgatory,  i.  e.,  to  sail 
them,  seas  of  troublous  meaning,  it  is  no  proper 
craft  for  navigating  the  depths  of  meaning  in  his 
Paradise.  Even  following  in  the  wake  of  a  large 
ship,  i.  e.,  of  one  learned  in  matters  of  theology  and 
philosophy,  the  course  may  easily  be  lost  by,  or  be- 
come impossible  for,  the  little  bark,  and  shipwreck 
result. 

O  you  who  in  a  little  boat,  anxious  to  listen,  have 
followed  my  ship,  that  singing  pushes  on,  now  ought 
you  to  reverse  your  course,  and  return  to  your  own 
shores.  Put  not  out  upon  the  high  sea,  because, 
should  you  lose  me,  you  would  never  find  your 
course  again.     The  ocean  which  I  sail  was  never 


DANTE  269 

ploughed  by  keel.*  Minerva  fills  my  sails,  Apollo 
steers,  and  the  nine  Muses  give  me  my  bearings.^ 

You  other  few  who  have  already  reached  out  for 
the  bread  of  angels,  which  is  heavenly  knowledge, — 
in  this  realm  the  bread  by  which  one  lives,  and  by 
which  one  never  can  be  surfeited, — for  your  vessel 
the  deep  sea  is  safe,  provided  you  keep  so  close  upon 
my  wake  that  you  do  not  lose  the  course.  Those 
glorious  sailors  who  crossed  to  Colchis  were  not  so 
dum  founded  when  they  saw  Jason  turn  ploughman, 
as  you  shall  be. 

Beatrice  was  gazing  upward,  and  my  eyes  were 
fixed  on  her,  when,  in  such  time,  perchance,  as  it 
takes  an  arrow  to  fly  from  the  notch,  I  realized  that 
I  had  reached  a  place  where  a  marvelous  thing  riv- 
eted my  sight.  Whereupon  she,  from  whom  no 
thought  of  mine  could  be  hid,  turning  toward  me, 
glad  as  lovely,  said : 

"Uplift  your  grateful  thoughts  to  God,  through 
Whom  we  have  reached  the  first  star."^ 

It  seemed  to  me  that  a  cloud,  brilliant,  impenetra- 
ble, solid  and  smooth,  had  engulfed  us;  a  cloud, 
like  to  a  diamond  on  which  the  sun  strikes.     Into 


*  Dante  means  that  what  is  to  follow  is  no  reading  for  men 
of  little  education  or  any  one  not  addicted  to  serious  thinking. 
He  is  in  fact  saying  of  himself  much  the  same  thing  that 
Goethe  said  about  Michelangelo's  voyaging  the  vast  abysses. 
of  thought  alone. 

*  Minerva  is  knowledge,  and  Apollo,  God  of  song,  is  guide, 
and  the  Muses  are  inspiration,  by  the  aid  of  all  of  whom 
Dante  was  enabled  to  write  his  Paradise. 

•The  Heaven  of  the  Moon. 


270  DANTE 

itself  this  eternal  pearl  received  us,   precisely  as 
water  receives  a  ray  of  light,  yet  remains  undivided. 

This  is  the  first  of  the  nine  concentric  spheres 
which,  in  everlasting  gyrations,  whirl  about  the 
Earth  as  a  center.  It  is  the  lowest,  least  important, 
and  nearest  to  the  Earth,  of  all  the  Heavens,  and  de- 
rives its  motion  from  the  least  important  of  the  nine 
orders  of  hierarchies,  the  angels,  which  move  in 
everlasting  circles  around  God.  The  first  stage  of 
Dante's  journey  through  the  Heavens,  the  subject 
of  his  Paradise,  ends  here  in  the  sphere  of  the  moon. 

CANTO  III 

This  extremely  beautiful  canto,  so  quiet,  and 
calm,  and  sweet,  is  filled  to  overflowing  with  the 
spirit  of  content;  the  spirit  and  essence  of  life  eter- 
nal in  Paradise,  as  thought  of,  and  longed  for,  by 
devout  and  faithful  Christians  in  the  thirteenth,  no 
less  than  in  the  twentieth  century.  It  is  the  peace 
which  passeth  understanding,  brought  by  Dante 
"into  the  compass  of  distinct  regard,"  to  do  which  is 
within  the  reach  of  the  greatest  artist  alone. 

In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  written  in  1844,  Gladstone 
quotes  the  famous  line:  *7«  la  sua  volontade  e 
nostra  pace"^  (In  His  will  is  our  peace),  and  adds: 
"The  words  are  few  and  simple,  and  yet  they  appear 

*  See  page  274. 


DANTE  271 

to  me  to  have  an  inexpressible  majesty  of  truth  about 
them,  to  be  almost  as  if  they  were  spoken  from  the 
very  mouth  of  God." 

No  more  accurate  phrase  could  be  written  of  this 
third  canto  than  to  say  of  it,  that  it  has  "an  inex- 
pressible majesty  of  truth"  about  every  line  of  it. 
The  sphere  of  the  moon,  and  they  that  dwell  therein, 
together  form  the  subject. 

As  in  perfect  mirrors,  or  in  transparent  and  tran- 
quil water,  not  deep  enough  to  conceal  the  bottom, 
the  features  of  our  faces  are  reflected  so  faintly, 
that  a  pearl  on  a  white  brow  is  not  more  noticeable, 
in  like  manner  did  I  see  many  faces,  all  eager  to 
speak ;  whereat  I  made  the  opposite  mistake  to  that 
which  begot  love  between  the  man  and  the  fountain.^ 

The  moment  that  I  became  aware  of  these  faces, 
assuming  that  they  were  reflections,  I  turned  around 
in  order  to  see  the  realities,  and  saw  nothing.  Then 
I  turned  back,  and  directed  my  gaze  straight  into 
those  depths  of  light  which,  all  smiling,  were  aglow 
in  the  blessed  eyes  of  my  sweet  guide.' 

"Marvel  not,"  she  said,  "that  I  smile  at  your 


*  Narcissus  took  his  own  reflection  to  be  a  real  person  and 
thereupon  fell  in  love  with  it.  Dante  makes  the  opposite  error 
of  thinking  the  faces  reflections  of  persons  standing  behind 
him,  when  really  they  are  shades  come  from  their  dwelling 
place  in  the  Empyrean  Heaven  to  talk  with  him  here  in  the 
sphere  of  the  moon. 

*  It  must  be  borne  constantly  in  mind  that  Beatrice  is  now 
Dante's  guide. 


272  DANTE 

childish  ideas,  which  do  not  yet  confidently  rest 
upon  the  truth,  but,  as  such  ideas  always  do,  get  you 
nowhere.  These  whom  you  see  are  real  persons, 
placed  here  for  failing  to  keep  their  vows.  Speak 
with  them,  listen  to  them,  and  believe,  because  that 
True  Light,  which  gives  them  peace,  does  not  per- 
mit them  to  turn  from  it." 

I  turned  to  the  shade  that  seemed  keenest  to  talk, 
and  began,  like  a  man  who  stumbles  because  of  his 
own  great  eagerness : 

"O  spirit  sure  of  Paradise,  who  even  in  the  bright- 
ness of  eternal  life  art  tasting  that  sweetness  which, 
unless  it  is  tasted,  can  never  be  known,  do  me  the 
transcendent  favor  of  satisfying  my  wish  to  know, 
your  name  and  lot." 

To  this,  with  smiling  eyes,  she  quickly  answered : 

"Our  charity  does  not  close  its  doors  upon  a  just 
wish  any  more  than  the  love  of  God  Himself,  Who 
wills  that  all  his  court  be  like  Himself.  On  Earth  I 
was  a  nun;  and  if  your  memory  runs  back  clearly, 
my  being  more  beautiful  now  than  then,  will  not 
prevent  your  recognizing  me ;  you  will  see  that  I  am 
Piccarda,  who,  placed  here  with  these  other  blessed 
ones,  am  blest  in  the  slowest  sphere.*  Our  desires, 
which  are  fired  only  by  that  which  is  pleasing  to  the 


*  The  sphere  of  the  moon,  which,  being  nearest  to  the  Earth 
and  farthest  from  God,  revolves  least  rapidly  of  all  the 
spheres,  and  is,  of  all  of  them,  least  blest.  Piccarda  Donati, 
sister  of  Forese  (see  Purgatory,  Canto  XXIV),  and  a  relative 
of  Dante's  wife. 


DANTE  273 

Holy  Spirit,  have  their  blessedness  in  being  placed 
in  accord  with  His  ordering.  And  this  allotted  posi- 
tion, which  appears  so  lowly.  Is  given  to  us  because 
our  vows  were  neglected  and  in  some  respect  un- 
filled." 

To  this  I  replied :  "In  your  glorified  faces  there 
is  something  divine,  I  understand  it  not,  which 
makes  you  different  from  what  you  were.  This  is 
why  I  did  not  remember  you  at  once,  but  what  you 
say  helps  me  now  to  recognize  you  more  easily. 
Tell  me,  you  that  are  happy  here,  do  you  wish  for  a 
more  exalted  place,  in  order  to  see  more,  or  to  make 
more  friends?" 

Along  with  the  other  shades  she  first  smiled  a  lit- 
tle, then  answered  so  gladly  that  she  seemed  to  blaze 
with  the  fire  of  love. 

"Brother,  the  effect  of  love  is  to  make  our  wills 
content.  It  causes  us  to  desire  only  that  which  we 
have,  and  does  not  spur  our  longing  for  anything 
else.  If  we  wanted  to  be  higher  up,  our  desires 
would  be  out  of  harmony  with  the  will  of  Him  who 
assigns  us  to  this  level,  which  discord  you  will  see 
to  be  impossible  in  these  spheres,  if  abiding  in  love 
is  here  a  necessity,  and  if  you  carefully  consider  the 
nature  of  that  necessity."  Nay,  rather,  it  is  the  es- 
sence of  this  blessed  state  to  exist  in  perfect  concord 
with  the  divine  will,  so  that  God's  will  and  ours  are 
thus  made  one.    Hence,  the  way  in  which  we  are 

•Love. 


274  DANTE 

distributed  from  low  to  high  throughout  this  realm, 
to  the  entire  realm  gives  satisfaction,  even  as  it  does 
to  the  King  who  makes  perfect  unison  of  His  and 
our  ends.  His  will  is  our  peace;  it  is  that  sea  to- 
ward which  all  things  move  whether  created  by 
God  or  made  by  nature."" 

Then  I  saw  clearly  how  everywhere  in  Heaven  is 
Paradise,  even  though  the  grace  of  the  Supreme 
Good  is  not  poured  down  equally  in  every  part. 

Dante  now  begs  Piccarda  to  tell  him  how  it  came 
about  that  her  vow  was  defective. 

"A  young  girl  I  fled  from  the  world  in  order  to 
follow  Saint  Clara,'  and  I  put  on  the  veil,  and 
pledged  myself  to  the  rule  of  her  Order.  Later, 
men  more  given  to  evil  than  good,  tore  me  from  the 
peaceful  cloister,  and  what  my  life  became  after 
this,  God  knows.'* 

CANTO  IV 

Beatrice  continues  to  discuss  the  subject  of  vows 
in  answer  to  questions  which  Dante  puts  to  her,  one 
after  the  other,  until  the  end  of  the  canto.    He  says : 

•  God  created  the  angels  and  intellectual  powers  directly,  or 
at  first  hand;  that  part  of  the  universe  which  is  pure  spirit 
The  balance,  made  up  of  spirit  and  matter,  is  here  attributed 
to  nature,  which  was  thought  of  as  His  handmaid.  In  this 
case  nature  means  the  influence  of  the  stars,  an  agent,  so  to 
speak,  which  intervenes,  as  it  were,  between  God  and  that  part 
of  the  universe  which  is  material. 

'St.  Clara,  a  friend  of  St  Francis,  founded  an  order  of 
nuns. 


DANTE  275 

"I  want  to  know  if  man  can  atone  for  broken 
vows,  by  good  works,  which  may  have  an  equivalent 
weight  in  Heaven's  scales?" 

The  answer  to  this  question,  given  in  simple  words 
of  great  eloquence,  comes  in  Canto  V.  It  is  this 
canto  also  which  contains  the  ascent  to  the  next 
Heaven,  or  sphere,  that  of  Mercury. 

CANTO  V 
BEATRICE 

"You  wish  to  know  if  for  an  unfulfilled  vow 
enough  can  be  paid  in  other  service,  to  secure  the 
soul  against  claim."* 

So  she  began,  and,  like  one  who  does  not  cease 
his  speaking,  she  thus  continued  her  holy  discourse  :^ 

"The  greatest  gift  which  God  in  His  bounty 
granted  at  creation,  and  the  one  most  in  accord  with 
His  own  goodness,  and  the  one  by  which  He  sets  the 
greatest  store,  was  the  freedom  of  the  will,  with 
which  the  creatures  that  have  intelligence,*  they  all, 
and  they  alone,  were,  and  are  endowed.  Now,  if 
you  found  your  argument  on  this,  the  precious  char- 

'  The  claim  of  heavenly  justice  against  one  who  has  sinned. 

*  This  passage,  dealing  in  part  with  the  freedom  of  the  will, 
is  of  peculiar  interest  because  it  lays  down  clearly  the  main 
principle,  the  cornerstone  in  the  structure  of  Dante's  religion 
and  philosophy. 
■    *  Men  and  angels. 


276  DANTE 

acter  of  a  vow  will  be  evident  to  you,  provided  it  is 
such  that  God  accepts  it  when  yoQ  make  it.  Be- 
cause, in  confirming  the  compact  b'etween  God  and 
man,  sacrifice  is  made  of  this  treasure*  which  I 
have  just  described,  and  that  sacrifice  is  its  own  act. 
What  then  can  be  offered  in  compensation?  If  you 
think  to  turn  to  a  good  use  for  other  ends,  that  vow 
which  you  have  offered  to  God  for  a  definite  pur- 
pose, you  are  setting  out  to  do  good  works  with  ill- 
gotten  gains. 

"Let  no  man  lightly  make  a  vow :  be  faithful,  but 
not  obstinate  in  being  so,  as  Jephthah'  was  in  his 
first  offering;  he  to  whom  it  would  have  been  more 
credit  to  say :  *I  have  done  wrong,*  than,  by  keeping 
his  vow,  to  do  greater  wrong.  And  equally  foolish 
will  you  see  the  great  leader'  of  the  Greeks  to  have 
been,  on  account  of  whom  Iphigenia  was  made  to 
suffer  because  of  her  fair  face,  and,  both  the  simple 
and  the  wise,  who  have  since  heard  of  the  mon- 
strous sacrifice,  to  grieve.  Let  Christians  take  more 
thought  before  they  make  vows ;  be  not  like  a  feather 
to  every  wind ;  think  not  that  every  water  can  wash 
you.^  You  have  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament, 
and  the  Shepherd  of  the  Church  to  guide  you :  let 

*  Freedom  of  the  will. 
•Judges  xi:30-39. 

"  Agamemnon  vowed  to  sacrifice  to  Diana  the  loveliest  thing 
born  during  the  year,  and  this  thing  proved  to  be  his  daugh- 
ter, Iphigenia. 

*  He  means  that  the  sin  of  a  broken  vow  can  not  be  easily 
cleansed  away. 


PANTE  277 

this  suffice  for  your  salvation.  If  unrighteous  greed 
urges  you  to  a  different  course,  act  like  men,  and 
not  like  silly  sheep,  so  that  the  Jew  among  you  may 
not  have  the  laugh  on  you.®  Act  not  like  the  lamb 
that  leaves  its  mother's  milk,  and,  innocent  and  play- 
;ful,  works  its  own  destruction." 

Word  for  word,  as  I  have  written,  did  Beatrice 
speak  to  me;  then,  all  eagerness,  she  again  lifted  her 
gaze  to  the  Empyrean.  Her  silence,  and  the  change 
which  had  come  over  her  countenance,  imposed 
silence  on  my  thirsty  mind  which  already  had  more 
questions  to  be  answered.  Therewith,  as  an  arrow 
hits  the  mark  before  the  bowstring  has  ceased  to 
quiver,  we  sped  on  into  the  second  realm.^ 

On  entering  the  Heaven  of  Mercury  Dante  be- 
holds "more  than  a  thousand  glorious  lights  draw- 
ing toward  him,"  and  from  each  he  hears  an  excla- 
mation of  joy  at  his  coming,  "which  shall  increase 
our  loves,"  meaning  that  every  added  soul  in  Para- 
'dise  is  an  additional  object  on  which  the  citizens  of 
Heaven  may  exercise  their  love,  love  being  a  qual- 
ity that  is  strengthened,  like  muscles  or  memory,  by 
exercise.    The  divine  effulgence  makes  it  plain  that 


8  The  Jews,  who  live  by  the  Old  Testament  alone,  keep  their 
vows.  If  you  who  have  more  light,  i.  e..  Christians,  make 
religious  vows,  for  selfish  ends,  and  break  them,  then  you  will 
be  despised  by  the  Jews. 

'  The  Heaven  of  Mercury. 


278  DANTE 

any  questions  Dante  may  care  to  ask  will  be  an- 
swered gladly,  and  Beatrice  confirms  this  by  saying: 

CANTO  VI 

"Speak,  speak  securely,  and  trust  even  as  to  gods." 

Immediately  the  spirit  of  Justinian,  the  emperor, 
his  features  showing  plainly,  appears  in  the  light 
that  first  bade  Dante  ask  what  he  would.  Out  of 
his  mouth  then  comes  the  history  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire from  -^neas  to  the  time  of  Dante,  a  piece  of 
writing  in  itself  magnificent  enough  to  suit  so  mag- 
nificent a  subject,  prefaced  by  a  bit  of  glorious  hu- 
mility on  the  part  of  Justinian  who  declares  that  in 
Heaven  what  you  were  alone  counts,  not  who  you 
were;  in  a  word,  that  all  earthly  distinctions  are 
wiped  out.  If  there  is  such  a  thing  as  epic  history, 
and  why  should  there  not  be  such  a  thing,  surely 
here  is  an  example.  The  very  words  march  like  tri- 
umphant legions;  the  ideas  move  forward  with  im- 
perial grandeur;  the  impact  of  meaning  in  the  whole 
is  as  the  very  essence  of  victory. 

"After  Constantine  turned  the  Eagle  counter  to 
the  course  of  the  heavens,*  which  it  had  followed  in 


1  Constantine  carried  the  Imperial  Eagle  eastward,  and  set  it 
up,  i,  e.,  established  the  Imperial  capitol,  on  the  Bosphorus. 
The  march  of  Empire  previously  had  been  westward.  This 
was  in  324  A.  D.  and  Justinian,  who  is  speaking,  did  not 
ascend  the  throne  until  527. 


DANTE  279 

the  steps  of  him  of  old  who  took  Lavinia  to  wife,' 
for  two  centuries  and  more  did  that  bird  of  God 
hover  over  the  frontiers  of  Europe,  close  by  the 
mountains  of  Troy,  whence  it  had  originally  winged 
its  flight.  From  that  place  it  governed  the  world, 
beneath  the  shadow  of  its  sacred  wings,  from  one 
imperial  hand  to  another,  until  at  last  it  lighted  upon 
mine.  Caesar  I  was,  and  am  Justinian,  who,  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Spirit,  purged  the  laws  of  those 
that  were  superfluous  and  useless.  Prior  to  the  time 
I  undertook  this  work,  I  believed  that  there  was  but 
one  nature  in  Christ,  not  more,*  and  with  that  belief 
I  was  satisfied,  but  the  blessed  Agapetus,  who  was 
the  supreme  shepherd,*  by  his  words  led  me  to  the 
true  faith.  I  believed  him;  and  that  which  his  be- 
lief held  I  now  see  as  clearly  as  you  see  that  of  two 
contradictory  assertions  one  must  be  false  and  the 
other  true.  As  soon  as  I  moved  in  accord  with  the 
Church,  it  pleased  God,  in  His  grace,  to  inspire  me 
to  undertake  the  exalted  labor,"  and  I  gave  myself 
unreservedly  to  it.  Military  concerns  I  entrusted 
to  my  Belisarius  with  whom  the  right  hand  of 
Heaven  was  so  completely  joined  as  to  make  it  evi- 
dent that  I  need  have  no  further  care." 

Thus  far  Justinian  has  occupied  himself  with  tell- 


*  jEneas,  father  of  the  Roman  people. 

•The  divine  nature,  and  the  human,  in  Christ,  i.  e.,  Christ 
as  God,  and  as  man. 

*  The  Pope. 

'  Justinian's  famous  codification  of  tlie  Roman  law. 


280  DANTE 

ing  his  own  history.  Now  he  turns  his  attention 
to  narrating  the  history  of  the  Empire,  and  discours- 
ing on  the  sin  that  is  committed  when  a  himian  being 
either  attempts  to  usurp  the  power  of  the  Empire, 
seize  its  ensign,  the  Eagle,  for  his  own  ends,  or  make 
war  against  it,  which  things  Dante  saw  attempted, 
on  all  sides,  by  the  politicians  of  his  own  time. 
Justinian  begins  the  story  with  the  day, 

when  Pallas®  died  in  order  to  give  the  Eagle  a  king- 
dom. 

"You  know  how  it  dwelt  in  Alba  for  three  hun- 
dred years  and  more  until  finally,  for  its  sake,  the 
three  fought  against  the  three.''  You  know  what  it 
accomplished  under  its  seven  kings,  subduing  the 
neighboring  tribes,  from  the  time  when  the  Sabine 
women  were  outraged,  down  to  the  woe  of  Lucre- 
tia.  You  know  what  it  achieved  when  those  illus- 
trious Romans  bore  it  against  Brennus,  Pyrrhus, 
and  the  other  princes  and  allies,  because  of  which 
Torquatus,  and  Quinctius,  who  was  named  from  his 
curly  hair,  the  Decii  and  the  Fabii  won  the  fame 
which  I  rejoice  to  immortalize.  Low  in  the  dust 
it  laid  the  pride  of  the  Carthaginians,  who,  under 
leadership  of  Hannibal,  crossed  the  Alpine  peaks 
whence  flows  the  Po.  Scipio  and  Pompey  in  their 
youth  were  victorious  under  it,  and  bitter  did  it 

"  Son  of  the  King  of  Latium,  sent  to  aid  ^Eneas. 
*  The  Horatii  and  Curatii. 


DANTE  281 

prove  to  that  hill*  at  whose  foot  you  first  saw  the 
light.  Then,  close  on  the  time  when  it  was  the  will 
of  Heaven  that  all  the  world  should  be  at  peace 
like  itself,®  Caesar,  at  Rome's  behest,  assumed  it,^° 
and  what  it  then  did  from  the  Var  to  the  Rhine,  the 
Isere  witnessed  and  the  Saone,  and  the  Seine,  and 
every  valley  which  helps  fill  the  Rhone.  The  deeds 
it  wrought  when  it  went  forth  from  Ravenna,  and 
crossed  the  Rubicon  were  so  rapid  that  neither 
tongue  nor  pen  could  follow.  On  Spain  it  wheeled 
its  legions ;  then  toward  Durazzo,  and  smote  Phar- 
salia  so  that  the  blow  was  felt  as  far  as  the  warm 
Nile.  Once  more  it  looked  on  Antandros,^^  and  the 
Simois,  whence  it  had  first  set  forth,  and  where 
Hector  lies,  and  evil  for  Ptolemy  proved  the  hour 
of  its  arousing.  Thence  it  swooped  swiftly  down 
on  Juba,  and  after  that  returned  to  your  west*'* 
where  it  heard  the  Pompeian  trumpets.^'  Of  what  it 


■Dante  was  born  in  Florence,  which  lies  under  the  hill  of 
Fiesole,  on  which,  tradition  says,  Cataline's  army  had  head- 
quarters.   The  Romans  destroyed  the  town  of  Fiesole. 

•  The  universal  peace  at  tlie  coming  of  Christ. 

"No  war,  or  battall's  sound 
Was  heard  the  world  around ;" 

Milton,  Ode  on  Nativity. 

*'It,  here,  as  throughout  this  entire  passage,  refers  to  the 
Eagle  as  ensign  of  the  Roman  state. 

"The  place  where  ^Eneas  set  sail  when  he  left  his  native 
land  for  Italy. 

"  Justinian  speaking  in  Paradise  to  Dante,  who  still  belongs 
to  the  world,  says  "your  west,"  meaning,  west  as  thought  of 
on  Earth. 

"  Caesar  defeated  the  sons  of  Pompey  in  Spain. 


282  DANTE 

accomplished  under  its  next  standard  bearer'* 
Brutus  and  Cassius  still  bear  testimony  in  Hell.  Be- 
cause of  it  the  ill-fated  Cleopatra  still  suffers,  she, 
who  fleeing  it,  sought  for  herself  terrible  and  sud- 
den death  from  the  asp.  With  him"  it  flew  far  even 
as  the  Red  Sea ;  with  him"  it  set  the  world  in  such 
perfect  peace  that  the  temple  of  Janus  was  closed. 
.  "But  what  the  ensign,  of  which  I  speak,  had  al- 
ready done,  and  later  was  to  do,  throughout  the 
world,  will  dwindle  in  appearance  and  seem  insig- 
nificant if  one  contemplates  it  with  single  eye  and 
pure  heart,  as  it  was  in  the  hand  of  the  third 
Caesar ;^^  for  the  Justice  of  God  which  inspires  me, 
granted  to  it,  in  the  hand  of  him  of  whom  I  speak, 
the  glory  of  doing  vengeance  for  Its  own  wrath. 
Mark  now  the  marvel  of  what  I  shall  unfold.  With 
Titus  it  made  haste  to  do  vengeance  for  the  ven- 
geance of  original  sin.*'^ 

"And  when  the  Lombards  attacked  the  Holy 
Church,  under  the  Eagle,  Charlemagne  victoriously 
came  to  her  aid." 


"Augustus. 

"  Augustus. 

"Tiberius,  durincr  whose  reign  Christ  was  crucified.  Pre- 
vious to  this  time  the  Roman  Eagle  had  exercised  its  influence 
for  worldl}'  supremacy  only.  After  this  time  it  was  destined 
to  exert  itself  in  behalf  of  Heaven,  i.  e.,  destroy  Jerusalem 
and  avenge  the  Crucifixion,  as  it  did  under  Titus. 

"  First  Rome,  under  its  ensign,  the  Eagle,  avenged  the  wrath 
of  God  against  Adam,  by  putting  Christ  to  death,  and  sec- 
ondly, it  avenged  the  Jews,  who  crucified  Him,  by  destroying 
Jerusalem. 


DANTE  283 

Justinian  now  speaks  of  the  despicable  way  in 
which  poHtical  factions,  and  even  individuals — this, 
in  times  subsequent  to  Charlemagne  (800  A.  D.), 
and  down  to  Dante's  own  day — oppose,  or  appro- 
priate, the  eagle  for  personal  or  party  ends.  But, 
says  Justinian,  in  solemn  warning: 

"Let  such  an  one  fear  the  talons  which  have  torn 
the  hide  from  a  mightier  lion.  Many  a  time  ere 
now  have  the  sons  wept  for  the  sins  of  the  father; 
let  him  not  imagine  that  God  will  change  this  en- 
sign for  his  lilies."^^ 

CANTO  VII 

From  this  point  in  their  heavenly  pilgrimage — 
Dante  and  Beatrice,  be  it  remembered,  are  still  in 
the  second  sphere,  that  of  Mercury,  the  second  low- 
est of  the  Heavens — from  this  point,  upward,  the 
shades  or  spirits  appear  as  lights,  which  blaze  forth 
their  own  glory,  each  according  to  his  own  de- 
gree of  virtue,  and,  moving  more  or  less  rapidly, 


"Dante  refers  to  Charles  II,  King  of  Naples.  He  declares 
that  God  will  not  change  the  emblem  of  the  Roman  Empire 
which  He  has  chosen  to  be  his  instrument  for  governing  the 
world,  for  the  lilies,  which  form  the  emblem  of  the  French 
house  of  Anjou,  of  which  house  Charles  was  a  son. 


The  many  historical  references  made  in  the  above  selection 
from  Canto  VI  can  be  easily  understood  by  referring  to  any 
text-book  on  Roman  History. 


284  DANTE 

alone  or  in  groups,  form  patterns.  These  move- 
ments are  made  to  diverse  music.  Beauty  of  light, 
loveliness  of  sound,  movement,  all  so  characteristic 
of  life,  constitute  what  might  be  termed  the  physical, 
though  impalpable,  realities  of  the  heavenly  spheres, 
and  their  blessed  inhabitants.  For  analogy  among 
filings  of  human  origin  I  know  of  nothing  closer 
than  fine  fireworks,  individual  balls  and  stars  of 
flame,  and  what  are  known  as  "set-pieces,"  accom- 
panied by  music.  But  let  him  who  finds  any  help 
in  such  a  faulty  analogy  remember  that  what  Dante 
saw  with  his  mind's  eye,  nay,  with  his  very  soul's 
eye,  is  as  far  removed  from  this  mundane  analogy 
as  Heaven  is  high  above  Earth — but,  so  remember- 
ing, the  definite  picture  of  the  human  thing  may 
be  made  the  path  of  imaginative  understanding  to 
the  divine,  for,  whether  talking  or  thinking  of  an- 
other world,  man  has  nought  but  the  tangible  pres- 
ent, and  its  vocabulary  of  ideas  and  words,  with 
which  to  speak,  or  in  which  to  conceive  of  the  sur- 
passing glories  of  what  is  beyond  this  mortal  Earth. 
Even  "John  to  the  seven  churches  which  are  in 
Asia,"  could  do  no  more.  The  essence  of  mystery 
consists  in  what  is  not  demonstrable,  and  mystery 
is  a  prime  quality  of  all  great  art,  most  of  all  the 
art  of  poetry,  which  poetry  is  only  great  when  it 
has  the  power  to  "spring  imagination."  Mystery, 
and  the  Paradise  of  Dante,  are  synonymous.    Nei- 


DANTE  285 

ther  one  nor  the  other  can  ever  be  acceptable  either 
to  a  grossly,  or  a  finely  materialistic  reader.  Love 
of  beauty,  whether  of  divine  or  human  making,  and 
love  of  art,  of  which  poetry  is  the  most  precious 
witness,  love  of  the  sort  which  begets  appreciation, 
always  implies  a  veritable  "act  of  faith."  But,  as 
faith  without  works  does  not  seem  to  be  sufficient 
in  our  daily  course  through  life,  so  in  poetry,  imag- 
ination can  not  have  provable  existence  without  a 
material  body  of  words  and  demonstrable  ideas. 

All  of  which,  before  now,  more  than  once  em- 
phasized in  these  pages,  is  said  again  to  impress  upon 
the  reader  of  Dante,  preeminently  the  reader  of  his 
Paradise,  this  fact — that  the  sole  way  of  entering 
into  a  spiritual  understanding  of  his  peculiar  great- 
ness is  to  bear  constantly  in  mind,  as  he  did,  the  ac- 
tual conditions  of  human  life  in  the  daily  round  of 
ordinary  existence  upon  Earth.  Finally,  remember 
that  the  lovely  lights,  the  lovely  sounds,  and  the 
rapid  movements  in  the  higher  spheres  mean  some- 
thing more  than  the  mere  terms  imply,  which  some- 
thing more  is  no  less  than  the  state  of  the  just  after 
death.  "The  holy  Jerusalem  descending  out  of 
Heaven  from  God — like  a  jasper  stone,  clear  as 
crystal,"  through  the  definite  material  meaning  of 
the  words  conveys  something  beyond  material  mean- 
ing; mystery,  what  we  will,  provided  only  that  we 
recognize  in  this  something  more,  the  sole  and  only 


286  DANTE 

real  value  which  pertains  to  these  and  all  other  in- 
spired words. 

"Hosanna!  Holy  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth,  illuming 
the  blessed  fires  of  these  realms  with  Thy  brightness 
from  on  high/'  were  the  words,  tuned  to  an  accom- 
paniment that  came  from  the  double  light*  which 
was  Justinian ;  and  it,  and  the  other  lights,  moved  in 
their  dance,  and,  like  swiftest  sparks,  hid  themselves 
from  me  in  sudden  distance.* 

The  canto  closes  with  an  argument  for  the  Res- 
urrection.    Beatrice  says  to  Dante : 

"You  say :  *I  see  the  water,  I  see  the  air,  the  fire, 
and  the  Earth,  them,  and  all  combinations  of  them, 
that  they  are  corruptible  and  endure  little  while. 
Yet  are  they  created  things/  Consequently  if  what 
I  have  said  before  is  true,  they  ought  to  be  incor- 
ruptible. My  brother,  of  the  angels,  and  this  pure 
Heaven  in  which  you  are,  it  may  alone  be  said  that 
they  were  brought  into  being,  created,  in  their  en- 
tirety, and  as  they  now  stand.  But  the  elements 
which  you  name,  and  those  things  which  are  made 
of  them,  were  brought  into  being  by  a  secondary 

^Justinian  is  spoken  of  as  a  double  light  because  of  his 
twofold  function  of  Emperor  and  Legislator. 

*  They  have  returned  to  the  Empyrean,  their  real  dwelling 
place,  having  come  to  the  sphere  of  Mercury  in  order  to  show 
themselves  to  Dante,  and  discourse  with  him.  Justinian,  in 
the  moment  of  his  departure  from  Dante,  bursts  forth  with 
a  hymn  to  God.  The  saints  that  are  with  him  take  up  the 
refrain. 


DANTE  iSZ 

power.'  Supreme  Goodness  inspires  your  existence,* 
and  so  completely  endows  it  with  love  for  Itself 
that  from  thenceforth  its  heart  is  set  on  It.  And 
from  this  you  may  likewise  draw  an  argument  for 
your  resurrection,  if  you  but  recall  how  human 
flesh  was  made,  when  both  our  first  parents  were 
created."" 

CANTO  VIU 

We  now  come  to  the  third  Heaven,  that  of  Venus, 
and  the  spirits  of  lovers.  Here  are  more  lights,  but 
no  faces  revealed.  The  lights  are  all  in  motion. 
Dante  heard  sung  from  within  their  depths : 

"Hosanna,"  with  such  sweetness  that  I  have  never 
since  ceased  wishing  to  hear  it  again.  Then  one  of 
them  drew  near  and  said : 

"Every  one  of  us  is  ready  to  do  whatever  pleases 
you,  in  order  to  give  you  joy.  In  the  same  circular 
course,  with  the  same  circling  motion,  and  with  the 


•  This  means  that  the  elements,  and  all  that  they  imply,  were 
created  by  the  power  of  the  angelic  InteUigences,  which  Intel- 
ligences were  in  turn  created  direct  by  God ;  thus,  the  dis- 
tinction, between  created  things,  and  all  other  things  which, 
though  they  seem  to  be  created,  are  really  not  so,  in  the  sense 
of  having  been  the  immediate  work  of  the  Almighty.  And, 
of  course,  only  created  things  can  be  exempt  from  corruption. 

*  Human  life. 

"  God  created  the  body,  as  well  as  the  soul,  no  second  power 
intervening  as  in  the  case  of  the  elements.  What  God  created 
can  not  die.  Hence  may  be  argued  the  resurrection  of  tlie 
flesh,  as  well  as  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 


28a  DANTE 

same  desire,  do  we  revolve  with  those  Princes*  to 
whom,  on  Earth,  you  once  addressed  the  verse :  *Ye 
whose  intelhgence  moves  the  third  Heaven.'^  Good 
will  so  fills  us  that,  in  order  to  please  you,  rest  will 
be  no  less  sweet  to  us  than  motion." 

When  I  had  reverently  lifted  my  eyes  in  question 
to  my  lady,  and  she  had  satisfied  me,  and  given 
her  assent,  I  turned  them  again  to  that  light  which 
had  just  promised  so  much ;  and, 

"Tell  us  who  you  are,'*  I  cried  with  accents  of 
intense  affection.*  Ah!  how  much  larger  and 
brighter  I  saw  it  grow  because  of  the  joy  which  my 
words  added  to  its  already  great  gladness!  Thus 
magnified,  it  said  to  me  :* 

"Brief  was  the  span  of  my  days  on  Earth;  had  it 
been  longer,  much  evil  that  is  to  be,  had  never  been. 
My  bliss,  shining  around  me,  hides  me  from  you  as 
the  cocoon  hides  the  silk  worm.  Great  was  the  love 
you  bore  for  me,  and  much  reason  had  you,  and,  had 
I  but  remained  among  the  living,  I  would  have 
shown  you  not  only  leaves''  but  fruits  of  friendship." 


*The  third  rank  of  the  nine  celestial  Intelligences  which 
compose  the  hierarchy  of  Heaven. 

"The  first  line  of  the  first  song  in  Dante's  Convivio  or 
Banquet,  as  this  earlier  work  is  called. 

*  Because  of  the  great  compliment  implied  by  the  quotation 
from  Dante's  own  writing,  which  the  light  had  paid  him. 

*  Charles  Martel,  oldest  son  of  Charles  II  of  Anjou,  king 
of  Naples.  It  is  commonly  believed  that  he  and  Dante  were 
friends. 

*  Leaves  promise  that  fulfilment  which  is  fruit. 


DANTE  ^9 

After  giving  Dante  a  long  and  difficult  discourse 
on  order  and  variety  in,  and  among,  things  mortal, 
Charles  Martel  concludes  with  some  advice,  as  wise 
now  as  then,  about  education — to  the  effect  that 
those  in  positions  of  authority,  ought  first  of  all 
to  endeavor  to  find  out  what  a  youth  is,  by  nature, 
fitted  for;  then  give  him  instruction  calculated  to 
strengthen  his  natural  aptitude. 

CHARLES  MARTEL 

"And  if,  down  yonder,  your  world  would  but  give 
heed  to  the  natural  dispositions  of  men,  it  would 
produce  a  better  race.  But  instead,  you  force  upon 
the  Church  one  whq,  was  born  to  wield  a  sword,  and 
you  make  a  king  of  one  who  was  born  to  preach; 
in  so  doing  you  do  not  move  your  feet  along  the 
true  way,  which  is  the  way  of  nature." 

CANTO  IX 

After  your  Charles,  O  lovely  Clemence,^  had  made 
plain  to  me  much  that  I  desired  to  know,  he  went 
on  to  tell  me  of  the  intrigues  by  which  his  descend- 
ants would  be  defrauded  of  their  just  rights;  but, 
said  he : 

"Keep  silence,  and  let  the  years  roll  on;"  this 

*  Whether   this   Clemcnce   was   Charles   Martel's   wife,   or 
sister,  is  uncertain. 


290  DANTE 

much  only  can  I  tell  you,  that    those    who    have 
wronged  you  shall  lament  as  is  their  due. 

And  now  the  spirit,  within  that  holy  flame,  re- 
turned to  the  Sun  from  which  the  fullness  of  its 
light  is  derived,  for  He  is  that  Good  which  is  for 
all  things  their  source  of  light.  O  souls  misguided, 
and  creatures  without  reverence,  who  harden  your 
hearts  against  such  a  Good,  lifting  up  your  heads 
unto  vanity ! 

The  ninth  canto  opens  with  the  departure  of  the 
light  of  Charles,  and  this  brief  apostrophe  to  the 
heedless  impiety,  and  vanity  of  human  beings.  It 
closes  with  a  strangely,  almost  weirdly,  sweet  pas- 
sage in  which  the  troubadour  poet,  Folco  of  Mar- 
seilles, tells  Dante  about  the  light  which  is  Rahab 
*'the  harlot"  who,  "by  faith  perished  not  with  them 
that  believed  not."  Hebrews  xi:  31.  Few  passages 
in  The  Comedy  argue  more  completely  Dante's  abid- 
ing faith  in  faith,  and  how  it,  alone,  may  be  suffi- 
cient for  salvation.  This  incident  related,  Folco 
speaks  a  few  fierce  lines  concerning  the  manner  in 
which  the  high  priests  of  the  Church  are  neglecting 
their  duties  and  defiling  their  sacred  offices;  a 
passage  of  what  Carlyle  calls  that  "natural  conden- 
sation spontaneous  to  the  man.  One  smiting  word; 
and  then  there  is  silence,  nothing  more  said." 

"But  in  order  that  you  may  go  away  satisfied  as 


DANTE  291 

to  every  question  to  which  this  sphere  has  given  rise, 
I  must  needs  tell  you  more  yet.  You  have  a  wish 
to  know  who  is  in  this  light  which  sparkles  so  bril- 
liantly, here  at  my  side,  like  a  sunbeam  flashing  on 
clear  water.  Learn  then  that  within  it,  Rahab  is  at 
peace,  and  that  her  being  in  our  ranks^  brightens 
them  more  than  any  other  presence.  She  was  taken 
up  and  received  into  this  Heaven  before  any  other, 
of  all  the  souls  of  the  triumph  of  Christ.®  Truly 
was  it  meet  to  set  her  in  one  of  the  heavenly  spheres 
as  a  trophy  of  the  magnificent  victory  won  by  the 
Crucifixion,  because  she  gave  aid  to  the  first  glorious 
exploit  of  Joshua*  in  the  Holy  Land,  a  thing  which 
scarcely  stirs  the  memory  of  the  Pope." 

Your  city*  which  was  founded  by  him  who  first 
rebelled  against  his  Maker,  and  whose  envy^  has 
caused  so  many  tears,  mints  and  circulates  the  ac- 
cursed florin,  which  has  led  astray  both  sheep  and 
lambs,  because  it  has  turned  their  shepherd  into  a 
wolf.*  For  its  sake  the  great  Doctors  of  the  Church 
are  neglected,  and  heed  is  given  only  to  the  De- 


'  Lovers  in  the  sphere  fif  Venus. 

*  Those  souls  taken  by  Christ  when  He  made  His  descent  I 
into  Hell. 

*  Joshua  ii  :6. 

•Boniface  VHI  made  no  effort  to  recover  the  Holy  Land, 
and  did  nothing  even  to  start  a  Crusade. 

*  Florence. 

'"Through  envy  of  the  devil  came  death  into  the  world." 
Wisdom  01  Solomon  ii  :24. 

■  The  clergy,  gone  mad  in  their  pursuit  of  gold,  are  become 
wolves. 


292  DANTE 

cretals,*  as  is  proved  by  the  notes  on  their  margins. 
It  is  these  to  which  both  Pope  and  Cardinals  apply 
themselves.  Their  thoughts  go  not  to  Nazareth 
whither,  in  his  descent,  Gabriel  winged  his  way. 
But  the  Vatican,  and  the  other  sacred  places  of 
Rome,  wherein  the  soldiers  of  Peter  lie  buried,  shall 
soon  be  delivered  from  this  adultery."^** 

CANTO  X 

I  was  no  more  conscious  of  my  ascent  than  is  a 
man  of  his  thoughts,  before  they  come.  It  was 
Beatrice  who  guided  me  from  good  to  better  so  in- 
stantaneously that  the  act  required  no  time. 

As  regards  what  was  in  the  sphere  of  the  Sun 
which  I  had  entered,  distinguishable,  not  by  color, 
but  by  increased  brilliartcy,  I  could  not  report  so  as 
to  make  any  one  believe  me,  even  though  I  were 
assisted  by  genius,  art  and  experience.  None  the 
less  one  may  believe  it,  and,  doing  so,  let  him  long 
to  behold  it.  If  our  faculties  are  too  frail  for  com- 
prehending such  sublimities,  it  is  no  wonder ;  for  be- 
yond the  sun  there  was  never  eye  could  reach. 

I  beheld  many  living  and  surpassing  lights,*  which, 
taking  us  as  a  center,  formed  themselves  into  a 
wreath.    They  were  even  sweeter  of  voice,  than  re- 

•  Laws. 

"  This  may  refer  to  the  removal,  in  1305,  of  the  Papal  Court 
to  Avignon. 

*  Brighter  than  the  Sun  in  which  they  are. 


DANTE  293^ 

splendent  in  aspect.  In  the  heavenly  court,  whence 
I  have  returned  to  Earth,  many  precious  and  lovely 
things  exist  which  can  not  be  transported  from  the 
kingdom,  and  of  such  was  the  song  of  those  lights. 
Let  him  who  does  not  fly  thither  in  imagination,  ex- 
pect tidings  of  that  place  from  the  dumb. 

The  wreath  of  blazing  lights  now  circles  around 
Beatrice  and  Dante;  then,  ceasing  its  dance,  one  of 
the  great  lights  speaks  to  Dante ;  it  says : 

"You  desire  to  know  of  what  flowers  this  wreath 
is  woven,  which,  around  her,  beams  with  delight 
on  the  beautiful  lady  who  gives  you  power  for  the 
ascent  of  Heaven.  For  myself,  I  was  a  lamb  of  the 
holy  flock^  which  Dominic  guides  along  that  path 
where  all  goes  well  with  him  who  does  not  stray. 
This  one  who  is  nearest  to  me,  on  my  right,  was 
my  brother  and  master.  He  was  Albert  of  Cologne," 
and  I,  Thomas  of  Aquino.* 

Others  are  named,  and  then : 

"The  fifth  light,  which  is  the  most  beautiful 
among  us,  breathes  forth  so  much  love  that  all  the 

*  The  religious  order  of  Dominicans, 

*  So  learned  that  he  came  to  be  known  as  Albert  the  Great, 
Doctor  Universalis. 

*  St  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  author  of  a  famous  work  on  the- 
ology which  is  still  an  acknowledged  authority  on  points  of 
doctrine  by  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 


294  DANTE 

world  down  yonder  longs  to  know  about  him.* 
Within  that  light  is  the  exalted  intellect  of  him  who 
had  such  profound  wisdom,  that,  if  truth  be  truth, 
none  other  ever  knew  so  much." 

Then  Boethius,  minister  and  philosopher  at  the 
court  of  Theodoric,  and  author  of  the  beautiful 
book,  "golden  book"  Gibbon  calls  it,  The  Consola- 
tion of  Philosophy,  is  pointed  out,  or  rather  the 
light  which  contains  his  spirit,  which  St.  Thomas 
tells  Dante: 

"came  from  martyrdom  and  from  exile  to  this 
place." 

When  the  enumeration  of  lights  is  complete,  and 
each  has  been  named,  Dante  brings  the  canto  to  a 
close  with : 

I  beheld  that  wheel  of  glorious  lights,  moving, 
and  within  it,  voice  answering  unto  voice,  in  such 
unison,  and  with  such  sweetness,  as  can  not  be 
known  save  there  where  joy  is  everlasting. 

CANTO  XI 

In  this  canto,  the  Dominican,  Thomas  Aquinas, 
praises  a  Franciscan,  St.  Francis  of  Assisi;  in 
the  next,  a  Franciscan,  Bonaventura,  returns  the 

'  Solomon,  whose  place  among  the  damned  or  blessed  was 
a  matter  of  dispute.  "None  like  thee  before  thee,  neither 
after  thee  shall  any  rise  like  unto  thee."    1  Kings  iii  :12. 


DANTE  295 

compliment  by  lauding  St.  Dominic.  The  two  or- 
ders, Franciscan  and  Dominican,  stand,  one  for 
gentle  means  of  conversion,  love;  the  other,  for  in- 
tellectual argument,  dialectic,  even  force,  as  means 
of  conversion.  Both,  great  men,  because  influencers 
of  many  men,  in  their  own  time,  and  since;  one, 
verily  on  fire  with  charity,  founded  a  religious  or- 
der, a  vast  society  whose  likeness  to  the  Salvation 
Army  Is  In  many  respects  striking;  the  other,  on 
fire  with  logic,  fotmded  a  religious  society  of  men, 
many  of  them  powerful  thinkers  and  highly  cul- 
tivated, who  sought  to  rid  the  world  of  heresy  by 
arguments,  theological  and  philosophical,  and,  when 
these  failed,  by  sword,  to  sweep  the  Earth  clean 
of  heretics.  These  cantos  contain  what  is  the 
essence  of  true  biography,  a  picture  of  the  spir- 
itual part  of  a  man  drawn  In  such  words  as  all  men, 
in  every  time,  understand  and  respect.  And,  of  all 
forms  of  writing,  as  none  is  nobler,  so  none  Is  rarer. 
The  canto  opens  with  twelve  remarkable  lines  in 
which  Dante  exclaims  upon  the  pettiness  of  human 
pursuits,  compared  with  the  glories  of  Paradise 
which  those  very  pursuits  so  often  keep  mortals 
from  tasting. 

How  senseless,  O  man,  your  choice  of  things  on 
which  to  set  heart!  How  weak  the  reasons  which 
lead  you  to  pursue  low  aims!  One  was  following 
the  law,  and  one  medicine,  and  one  the  Church,  and . 


206  DANTE 

one  was  seeking  to  rule  by  might  or  by  sophism,  and 
one  to  rob,  and  one  to  have  a  hand  in  public  affairs ; 
one  was  immersed  in  the  pleasures  of  the  flesh,  and 
one  was  devoting  himself  to  idleness,  when  I,  quit 
of  all  these  things,  was  being  received  so  gloriously 
with  Beatrice  in  Heaven. 

The  lights  which  have  been'  circling  about 
Beatrice  and  Dante  now  pause,  and,  from  the  heart 
of  the  flame  which  contains  the  spirit  of  St.  Thomas, 
they  hear  that  Providence  ordained  two  princes  as 
guides  for  the  Church. 

"One*  was  endowed  with  seraphic  love,  the  other,* 
because  of  his  learning,  was  on  Earth  a  cherub 
for  wisdom.  I  will  speak  of  the  former,  since  in 
praising  one,  both  are  praised,  because  every  deed 
of  theirs  looked  to  the  same  end.  He  was  still  very 
young  when  he  began  to  comfort  the  Earth  with  his 
great  goodness;  for,  while  yet  a  youth,  he  brought 
down  his  father's  anger  on  him  for  falling  in  love 
with  a  lady'  whom,  like  death,  no  man  woos  vol- 
untarily. In  the  spiritual  court,*  and  in  his  father's 
presence,  he  vowed  himself  to  Poverty,  and,  from 
that  instant,  day  by  day,  his  love  for  her  grew 

*  St.  Francis. 
'  St.  Dominic 

*  Poverty. 

*  Before  the  Bishop  of  Assisi,  i.  e.,  in  the  spiritual  court  of 
tis  native  town. 


DANTE  297 

stronger.  She,  widowed  of  her  first  spouse"  for 
more  than  eleven  hundred  years,  despised  and  un- 
known, had  gone  uncourted  till  his  coming. 

"But  in  order  not  to  speak  in  terms  too  obscure, 
from  now  on  take  Francis  and  Poverty  to  be  these 
lovers. 

"Their  harmony  and  cheerfulness  excited  such 
affection,  and  admiration,  and  s)nnpathy,  in  men, 
that  the  result  was  many  conversions.  The  ven- 
erable Bernard  was  the  first  to  go  barefooted  in 
pursuit  of  such  profound  peace,  and,  running,  it 
seemed  to  him  that  he  was  slow.  O  undreamed  of 
riches !  O  thrice  prolific  good !  Egidius  next  bares 
his  feet,  and  Sylvester  his,  following  the  bride- 
groom, so  o'erwhelming  is  the  loveliness  of  the  bride. 
Thenceforth  that  father,  and  that  master,  pursued 
his  own  course,  with  his  bride,  and  with  the  com- 
pany of  his  followers  who  already  had  put  on  the 
humble  cord  f  nor  did  any  misgivings  of  heart  cause 
him  to  hang  his  head,  because  he  was  the  son  of 
PietroBernardone;"^  or  because  he  had  become  an  ob- 
ject of  intense  scorn.  With  dignity  befitting  a  king, 
he  explained  to  Innocent'  his  stem  vow  to  be  poor, 
and  from  him  received  the  first  official  recognition 
for  his  Order.    When  the  devotees  of  poverty  had 

'  Qirist,  who  lived  a  life  of  poverty. 

"The  Franciscans  wore  a  cord  instead  of  a  girdle. 

*  The  rich  father  of  Francis. 

•  Pope  Innocent  III,  about  1210,  approved  the  monastic  ruU 
of  St  Francis. 


298  DANTE 

greatly  increased,  following  the  example  of  him 
whose  wonderful  life  would  be  more  adequately  re- 
hearsed in  the  glory  of  high  Heaven,  this  blessed 
shepherd  of  many  folds  was  crowned  a  second  time 
by  the  Eternal  Spirit,  speaking  through  Honorius.* 
And,  after  this,  thirsting  for  martyrdom,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Sultan  he  preached  Christ  and  the 
others  who  followed  Him ;  and  because  he  found  the 
Saracens  unripe  for  conversion,  and  in  order  not  to 
remain  where  he  could  accomplish  nothing,  he  re- 
turned to  care  for  the  harvest  of  the  Italian  faithful. 
On  the  rocky  ridge  between  Tiber  and  Arno  he  re- 
ceived, direct  from  Christ,  the  last  seal  of  approval,^® 
which  for  two  years  his  limbs  bore.  When  it  pleased 
Him  who  had  chosen  this  one  for  such  great  good,  to 
lift  him  up  to  the  reward  which  his  self-abasement 
merited,  to  his  brethren,  as  to  lawful  heirs,  he  com- 
mended his  most  dear  lady,"  commanding  them  to 
love  her  faithfully;  and,  from  her  bosom,  his  il- 


"  Pope  Honorius  III  confirmed  the  approval  of  the  Order  of 
St.  Francis  earlier  given  by  Innocent.    See  8,  page  297. 

"The  Stigmata.  The  story  is  that  St  Francis  prayed  to 
have  the  suffering  of  being  crucified,  in  order  that  his  out- 
ward life  might  be  a  complete  copy  of  Christ's,  and  that 
Christ  appeared  to  him,  and  that,  from  the  moment  of  His 
appearance  to  the  end,  two  years,  St  Francis  bore  the  nail 
marks,  and  lance  scar,  and  suffered  excruciatingly  thereby, 
and  always  praised  the  Lord  therefor.  The  Stigmata  >yas 
the  final  seal  of  Heaven's  approbation  (the  two  earlier  having 
come  from  Popes),  the  third  seal,  set  on  the  Franciscan 
Order ;  the  seal  of  a  miracle, 

"  Poverty.  , 


DANTE  299 

lustrious  soul  chose  to  depart,  returning  home,  and 
for  his  dust  he  desired  no  other  bier."" 

CANTO  XII 

More  spirits  appear,  each  hidden  in  his  own  Hght, 
and  form  an  outer,  or  second  circle,  about  that  inner 
circle  of  which  St.  Thomas,  who  has  been  speaking, 
is.  In  the  outer  circle  St.  Bonaventura,  a  Francis- 
can, begins  to  sing  the  praise  of  St.  Dominic 

"The  Love  which  makes  me  beautiful  prompts  me 
to  discourse  of  that  other  leader*  whose  follower 
has  spoken  so  highly  of  mine.'  It  is  but  right  that 
when  one  is  mentioned  the  other  should  be  intro- 
duced, so  that  as,  united,  they  carried  on  the  strug- 
gle, so  together  may  their  glory  shine.  The  army 
of  Christ,  which  costs  so  much  to  re-equip,  was  fol- 
lowing its  standard'  slowly,  full  of  doubt  and  weak 
in  numbers,  when  that  Emperor  who  reigns  forever* 
because  of  His  Grace,  and  not  on  account  of  their 
desert,  made  provision  for  His  soldiers  that  were  in 
peril;  and,  as  has  been  told,  sent  two  champions  to 
succor  His  Bride.*    It  was  the  words  and  deeds  of 

"  Than  the  bosom  of  Poverty,  the  bare  earth  on  which  he 
chose  to  die. 
*  St  Dominic. 
■  St.  Francis. 
•The  Cross. 
*God. 
•The  Church. 


300  DANTE 

these  which  reclaimed  the  people  who  had  gone 
astray. 

"In  happy  Callaroga"  was  born  the  passionate  lover 
of  the  Christian  faith,  the  holy  champion,  gentle  to 
his  own,  and  without  mercy  to  his  enemies.  As 
soon  as  his  soul  had  been  created  it  was  so  replete 
with  energy  that,  within  his  mother's  womb,  it  made 
her  a  prophetess.''  When  the  pledges  for  his  bap- 
tism had  been  given  at  the  sacred  font,  and  he  and 
Faith®  had  become  one,  dowering  each  other  with 
salvation,  the  lady"  who  had  given  assent  for  him, 
beheld  in  her  sleep  the  wonderful  fruit  which  would 
one  day  come  of  him,  and  of  his  heirs.***  He  was 
named  Dominic."  I  speak  of  him  as  the  husband- 
man whom  Christ  chose  to  assist  Him  with  His  gar- 
den. Of  a  truth  did  he  seem  Christ's  messenger  and 
friend,  for  the  very  first  inclination  which  he  mani- 
fested, was  to  follow  the  first  precept  which  Christ 
gave.*^  Not  for  the  world,  love  of  which  at  pres- 
ent makes  men  toil,  but  for  love  of  the  true  manna,*' 
did  he,  in  short  while,  become  a  mighty  teacher, 
such  that  he  set  about  pruning  the  vineyard  of  the 

"The  present-day  Calahorra  in  Old  Castile.     St.  Dominic 
was  born  in  1170. 

*  She  had  prophetic  dreams  about  her  son's  future  before  he 
was  born. 

'  Faith  was  St  Dominic's  bride,  as  Poverty  was  the  bride  of 
St.  Francis. 

•  His  godmother,  who  had  answered  for  him  at  baptism. 
"The  Dominicans. 

"  Named  after  the  Lord,  Dominus. 

"  "Sell  that  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor." 

"  Theology. 


"^  DANTE  .  301 

church  which  soon  runs  wild  if  the  vinedresser  be 
negligent.  From  the  papal  chair  which,  in  former 
days,  w^as  more  generous  to  the  righteous  poor, 
not  because  it  has  grown  degenerate  in  itself,  but 
because  of  the  degeneracy  of  him  who  sits  upon  it, 
Dominic  begged  not^*  to  be  allowed  to  dispense 
to  the  poor  only  two  or  three  where  six  was  due, 
nor  sought  the  first  vacant  benefice,  the  tithes  of 
which  belong  to  God's  poor.  He  begged  rather  for 
leave  to  fight  against  the  erring  world  in  behalf  of 
the  seed  of  true  faith,  four  and  twenty  plants  of 
which  encircle  you.^°  Then,  armed  with  doctrine 
and  firm  determination,  together  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Papacy,  he  issued  forth  like  a  torrent  from 
on  high,  and  on  heretics  his  onslaught  smote  with 
greatest  force  where  was  most  resistance.  After- 
ward, from  him  there  burst  forth  various  streams 
by  which  the  Catholic  garden  is  watered  so  that  the 
plants  in  it  are  becoming  vigorous." 

CANTO  xni  * 

In  this  canto  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  again  speaks, 
explaining  the  relation  of  Solomon's  wisdom  to 
that  of  Adam  and  Christ.  The  latter  part  of  the 
canto  is  given  over  to  warning  mankind  against 

"He  did  not  beg  to  be  let  oflF  from  giving  the  poor  their 
dues. 

"  The  twenty-four  spirits  in  the  double  circle  of  lights  where 
Dante  now  is,  the  sphere  of  the  Sun. 


302  DANTE 

coming  to  hasty  conclusions  on  matters  of  theology 
and  philosophy.  The  canto  is  omitted  entirely,  not 
because  it  lacks  either  interest  or  beauty,  but  simply 
because  it  does  not  contain  matter  of  such  striking 
interest,  or  passages  of  such  unusual  beauty  as  to 
make  it  essential,  in  any  of  its  parts,  to  the  idea  of 
the  present  book,  which  is  a  volume  of  extracts  only, 
though  extracts  which  contain  the  thread  of  Dante's 
narrative,  and  not  a  little  of  his  philosophy  and  rea- 
soning about  matters  physical  and  matters  spiritual ; 
in  a  word,  an  introduction. 

CANTO  XIV  I 

Solomon  tells  Dante  about  the  bodies  of  the  blest 
when  they  shall  be  given  their  flesh  at  the  Last  Judg- 
ment. Then  comes  the  ascent  to  the  Sphere  of  Mars, 
and  sight  of  the  Soldiers  of  Christ  in  what  might 
be  called  a  review,  gigantic  in  scale,  and  complex 
in  its  movements,  beyond  power  to  conceive,  save 
on  the  part  of  an  extraordinary  imagination,  such 
as  Dante  had. 

When,  as  Dante  says,  "the  glorious  life  of 
Thomas  became  silent"  (St.  Thomas  has  been  dis- 
coursing upon  the  vanity  of  human  judgment), 
Beatrice  begins : 

"This  man,*  though  he  expresses  it  neither  in 
his  words  nor  in  his  thoughts,   wishes  to  know 

*  Dante. 


DANTE  303 

concerning  yet  another  truth.  Tell  him  if  the  light 
which  now  rays  forth  about  your  spirit  will  remain 
with  you  to  all  eternity,  as  it  now  is;  and  if  it  is  to 
remain  so,  explain  how,  when  you  are  again  made 
visible  in  your  flesh,^  it  can  be  possible  for  your  eyes 
to  endure  such  brightness." 

As  when,  in  a  circle,  dancers,  urged  on  by  in- 
crease of  joy,  all  at  once  begin  to  sing,  adding  gaiety 
to  motion,  so  upon  the  eager  and  devout  request  of 
Beatrice,  the  heavenly  circles  expressed  their  in- 
crease of  joy  by  dancing  and  uttering  wondrous 
melody.  Whoever  laments  the  exchange  which  im^ 
plies  death  on  Earth  and  life  in  Heaven,  has  never 
had  the  least  conception  of  the  happiness  which  Di- 
vine Love  there  dispenses. 

That  One  and  Two  and  Three,  which  lives  for- 
ever, and  forever  reigns  in  Three,  and  Two  and 
One,  itself  uncircumscribed,  yet  all  things  circum- 
scribing, was  three  times  praised  in  hymn  so  glo- 
rious that  to  hear  it  would  be  reward  enough  for 
every  virtue.  And  in  the  divinest  light  of  the 
smaller  circle^  I  heard  a  low  voice,  such  perhaps  as 
that  with  which  the  angel  spoke  to  Mary ;  it  said  :* 

"As  long  as  the  joy  of  Paradise  lasts,  so  long 

'After  the  Resurrection. 

•  Dante  and  Beatrice,  be  it  remembered,  are  still  at  the 
center  of  the  two  concentric  circles  of  liRhts  and  spirits. 

*  After  the  saints  have  sung  praises  to  the  Trinity,  Solomon, 
already  described  as  "the  light  which  is  most  beautiful  among 
us,"  begins  to  answer  the  question  which  Beatrice  has  just 
asked. 


304  DANTE 

shall  our  love  clothe  us  in  vesture  of  light.  The 
brightness  of  it  will  be  proportioned  to  the  ardor  of 
our  love,  the  ardor  of  our  love  to  the  degree  in 
which  our  vision  of  God  is  undimmed,  and  that  is 
in  accord  as  it  receives  grace  beyond  its  own  merit. 
When  we  shall  again  be  clothed  on  with  flesh,  glori- 
fied and  made  holy,  we  shall  become  more  acceptable 
to  God  because  complete.  Wherefore  whatever 
light  the  Supreme  God  freely  vouchsafes  to  us  will 
be  increased, — light  which  enables  us  to  see  Him. 
Hence  will  our  power  of  vision  increase,  and  there- 
with the  ardor  which  such  vision  kindles,  and  also 
the  brightness  which  comes  from  such  ardor.  But 
even  as  a  flaming  coal  may  itself  be  brighter  than 
the  flame,  and  within  the  flame  remain  visible,  so,  in 
like  manner,  will  the  radiance  which  now  enfolds  us 
be  outshone  by  the  flesh  which,  all  this  while  has 
lain  in  the  Earth.  Nor  will  so  intense  a  light  be  able 
to  fatigue  us,  because  the  organs  of  the  body  will  be 
endowed  with  strength  for  everything  that  can 
bring  us  pleasure." 

So  prompt  and  so  eager  to  say  "Amen,"  did  both 
circles  of  saints  appear,  that  it  was  evident  indeed 
how  much  they  longed  for  their  dead  bodies;  not, 
it  may  have  been,  for  their  own  sakes  only,  but  for 
their  mothers*,  and  their  fathers',  and  for  the  others 
whom  they  had  loved,  while  yet  they  dwelt  among 
the  living. 

And  suddenly,  on  every  side,  and  of  the  same 


DANTE  305 

brightness,  a  glow  burst  forth  like  that  which  rises 
from  the  horizon  at  approach  of  day.  And  as 
with  the  approach  of  evening  new  objects  begin  to 
show  themselves  in  the  sky,  so  that  our  vision  seems 
both  true  and  false,  in  like  manner  I  there  began  to 
see  new  spirits,  and  a  circle  forming  outside  the 
other  two.  O  very  radiance  of  the  Holy  Spirit! 
how  instantaneous  and  incandescent  it  burst  upon 
my  eyes  which,  o'erwhelmed,  endured  it  not !  Bea- 
trice showed  herself  to  me  so  lovely,  and  so  smiling, 
that  I  must  leave  undescribed  her  appearance  as  be- 
ing among  those  sights  which  memory  can  not 
retain. 

But  from  the  sight  of  her  my  eyes  got  back  the 
power  to  look  up  again,  and  I  discovered  that  I  was 
alone  with  my  lady,  and  taken  up  into  a  loftier 
sphere  of  bliss."  That  I  had  risen  higher  was  evi- 
dent by  the  fiery  light  of  that  star  which  was  redder 
than  it  ordinarily  looks."  With  my  whole  heart,  and 
with  that  speech  which  is  one  in  all  men,'  I  offered 
thanks  to  God,  as  was  befitting  this  new  grace.  And 
the  ardor  of  my  offering  had  not  died  in  my  breast 
before  I  knew  that  my  sacrifice  had  been  received 
V/ith  favor,  for  such  was  the  effulgence,  and  such 
the  ruby  splendor  which,  in  the  shape  of  a  cross,  ap- 
peared to  me,  that  I  cried  out :  "O  God,  who  can 
bestow  such  beauty !" 

•The  Fifth  Heaven,  that  of  Mars. 

"  From  the  Earth. 

*_A  grateful  mind,  i.  e.,  thoughts  of  gratitude. 


306  DANTE 

At  this  point  memory  outstrips  my  genius,  for 
that  Cross*  was  flashing  forth  Christ  in  a  manner 
that  makes  every  comparison  futile.  But  he  who 
takes  up  his  own  cross  and  follows  Christ  will  here- 
after excuse  me  for  that  which  I  leave  undescribed, 
when  in  the  radiance  of  that  place  he  himself  shall 
behold  Christ,  as  shining  as  the  lightning. 

From  arm  to  arm,®  and  between  the  head  and  the 
foot,  lights  moved,  and  sparkled  brightly  as  they 
passed.  Thus  here  on  Earth,  particles  of  every  size 
are  seen  to  move,  level  and  sloping,  swift  and  slow, 
always  changing,  within  a  sunbeam  which  now  and 
then  falls  aslant  through  the  darkness  which  men 
make  by  closing  shutters.  And  as  a  viol  or  a  harp 
produces  harmony  from  many  concordant  strings, 
creating  a  sweet  sound  even  when  the  tune  can  not 
be  caught,  so,  by  the  lights  which  I  there  saw,  a 
melody  which  ravished  me  was  formed  throughout 
the  Cross,  although  I  did  not  understand  the  hymn. 
But  well  did  I  know  that  it  was  of  exalted  praise, 
because  I  caught  the  words,  "Arise  and  conquer," 
like  one  who,  in  spite  of  hearing,  does  not  under- 
stand. So  enthralled  was  I  by  it  that  until  then 
nothing  had  bound  me  with  such  delightful  fetters. 

•  The  Cross  of  lights,  or  constellation  of  the  spirits  in  Mars. 

•  The  Cross.    See  Note  8. 


DANTE  307 

CANTO  XV 

This  canto  is  a  monument  among  the  works  of 
men,  for  the  substance,  and  the  manner,  of  the 
picture  which  it  draws  of  the  possibihties  of  re- 
spect and  affection  between  men  of  the  same  blood, 
though  different  generations,  and  of  the  possibilities 
for  dignity  and  beauty  in  simple  living.  The  latter, 
dealt  with  in  a  passage  describing  the  simple  life  in 
the  old  days  of  Florence — ^those  in  which  Dante's 
ancestor  lived,  is  given  on  page  eight. 

One  of  the  lights  which  has  Its  place  in  the  Cross 
of  Mars  now  moves  along  the  arm  of  the  Cross  to- 
ward Dante.  It  is  his  great-great-grandfather,  Cac- 
ciaguida. 

With  equal  tenderness  the  shade  of  Anchises 
opened  his  arms,  if  the  word  of  our  greatest  Muse 
is  to  be  believed,  when,  in  the  Elysian  Fields,  he 
descried  his  son.* 

**0  my  own  blood,  O  superabundant  g^ace  of 
God!  To  whom,  as  to  you,  was  ever  the  gate  of 
Heaven  twice  opened?"^ 

Thus  said  the  light,  and  to  its  words  I  gave  heed. 
Then  I  turned  to  look  again  upon  my  lady.  I  was 
awestruck  by  what  I  saw  on  either  side,  for  deep 
in  her  eyes  shone  such  a  smile  that,  with  mine,  I 

*  Anchises  when  he  saw  ^^neas,  "stretched  forth  both  hands 
eagerly."    JEneid,  vi.  685. 

Before  death,  and  again,  after. 


308  DANTE 

thought  to  reach  the  depth  of  my  allotted  grace  and 
of  my  bliss  in  Heaven. 

When  Dante  has  gained  permission  from  Bea- 
trice, he  addresses  the  light. 

"Earnestly  do  I  beseech  you,  Living  Topaz,  gem 
of  this  precious  Cross,  that  you  tell  me  your  name." 

**0  branch  of  my  tree,"  in  whom,  even  while  I 
waited  I  took  pleasure,  I  was  your  ancestral  root." 

So  saying  he  began  his  reply,  then  continued : 

"He  from  whom  your  family  gets  its  name,  and 
who,  for  a  hundred  years  and  more,  has  been  cir- 
cling the  lowest  ledge  of  Purgatory,  was  my  son 
and  your  great-grandfather;  truly  fitting  would  it  be 
for  you,  by  prayers,  to  shorten  his  long  and  weari- 
some stay  down  there." 

CANTO  XVI 

This  canto  opens  with  an  exclamation,  nine  lines 
long,  charged  with  quaint  figurativeness,  and  sur- 
charged with  sound  understanding,  against  the  emp- 
tiness of  family  pride,  unless  the  dignity  and  im- 
portance of  the  family  is  maintained  by  ability  and 
nobility  on  the  part  of  the  descendants  who  bear 
the  name. 
•  Family. 


DANTE  309 

AH  me!  how  poor  a  nobility  is  that  which  man 
bases  upon  blood !  If  here  on  Earth,  where  the  zeal 
for  good  is  feeble,  it  causes  humankind  to  boast,  I 
shall  never  again  be  astonished  at  the  fact ;  because 
there,  where  no  zeal  for  anything  evil  can  exist,  I 
mean  in  Heaven,  I  was  myself  proud  of  my  own 
blood.  But  verily,  pride  of  descent  is  a  mantle  which 
soon  grows  short,  so  that  if  material  be  not  added 
to  it  now  and  then,  Time  continually  shortens  it  with 
his  shears.* 

"Tell  me,  beloved  forefather,  who  were  your  an- 
cestors, and  what  were  the  years  of  your  boyhood. 
Tell  me  about  the  sheep  fold  of  St.  John,  my  Flor- 
ence ;  how  large  was  it  at  that  time,  and  which  fami- 
lies in  it  were  most  worthy  to  be  honored." 

As  an  ember  is  quickened  into  flame  by  a  gust  of 
wind,  so  I  beheld  that  light^  grow  brighter  yet  in 
answer  to  my  eager  words.  And  as  it  grew  fairer 
to  look  upon,  so  with  voice  more  soft  and  gentle,  but 
not  in  the  language  of  the  present  time,  it  said  to  me : 

"From  the  day  on  which  the  angel  said  *Hail,'  to 
that  on  which  my  mother,  now  a  saint,  was  in  child- 
birth lightened  of  me  with  whom  she  had  been 
laden,  this  fiery  Mars  had  returned  to  the  sign  of 

*  Dante  could  have  argued  with  a  truth,  which  succeeding 
generations  have  attested,  that  if  his  ancestor,  Cacciaguida, 
had  founded  a  line  to  be  proud  of,  and  himself  bestowed  much 
honor  on  its  origins,  he,  Dante,  had  added  more;  in  a  word 
that  much  material,  and  good,  had  been  added  to  their  family 
mantle  even  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation. 

'  Cacciaguida. 


310  DANTE 

Leo'  five  hundred  and  eighty  times'  My  fathers 
and  I  were  born  near  the  boundary  of  the  last  ward 
reached  by  those  who  take  part  in  the  annual  races 
on  St.  John's  day.**  Of  my  ancestors  this  is  enough 
for  you  to  know ;  as  to  who  they  were,  and  whence 
they  came,  it  is  more  modest  to  keep  silent  than  to 
speak. 

"The  total  number  of  those  able  to  bear  arms,  who 
then  dwelt  between  Mars  and  the  Baptist,®  was  equal 
to  one-fifth  of  the  present  population.  But  the  blood 
of  the  citizens,  which  now  is  mixed  with  Campi,' 
Certaldo,  and  Fighine,''  at  that  time  ran  pure  in  the 
humblest  artisan." 

Cacciaguida  then  gives  a  long  list  of  the  famous 
families  and  great  deeds  of  old,  and  closes  the  canto 
as  follows: 

"With  these  families,  and  others,  I  saw  Florence 
in  such  tranquillity  that  she  was  utterly  without  oc- 

*  Its  place  in  the  zodiac. 

*  About  one  thousand  and  ninety  years.  In  other  words 
Cacciaguida  was  born  about  .1090  A.  D. 

'This  race  was  run  from  vvest  toeast  through  the  city  of 
Florence.  Cacciaguida  means  to  say  that  their  family  was 
born  on  the  east  side,  near  the  boundary  of  the  last  ward 
reached  by  the  runners,  i.  e.,  the  easternmost.  This  was  the 
old  quarter  of  the  city.  Having  had  their  houses  in  it, 
proves  how  ancient  a  line  the  family  came  from. 

'The  church  of  St.  John  Baptist  and  the  statue  of  Mars, 
which  stood  at  the  head  of  the  old  bridge  across  the  Arno, 
were  points  in  the  circuit  of  the  ancient  walls  of  Florence,  on 
the  northern  and  southern  sides. 

'  Small  places  in  the  neighborhood,  from  which  country 
people  moved  into  Florence. 


DANTE  31  r 

casion  for  tears.  With  these  families  I  saw  her  citi- 
zens so  glorious,  and  so  just,  that  the  lily  was  never 
reversed  upon  the  spear,  nor  made  vermillion  by 
party  feuds."* 

CANTO  XVII 

Dante  asks  his  ancestor  to  tell  him  of  his  own  fu- 
ture, and  to  make  clear  what  the  dark  things  vaguely 
foretold  in  Hell  and  Purgatory  meant. 

"O  beloved  source  from  which  I  sprang,  exalted 
now  so  high  that  even,  as  human  intellects  see,  a 
triangle  can  not  contain  two  obtuse  angles,  so  you, 
gazing  upon  God,  to  Whom  all  times  are  present, 
do  see  the  possible  events  of  life  before  they  take 
place ;  while,  with  Virgil,  I  was  climbing  the  moun- 
tain which  purges  souls  of  sin,  and  again,  while  I 
was  descending  through  Hell,  words  of  gloomy 
foreboding  were  said  to  me  respecting  my  future, 
in  spite  of  which  I  truly  feel  myself  able  to  stand 
four-square  against  the  strokes  of  fate.  My  long- 
ing to  know  would  be  soothed  by  hearing  what  for- 
tune holds  in  store  for  me,  because  a  dart  foreseen 
does  less  hurt." 

Not  with  ambiguous  words,  such  as  were  used  to 
fool  the  ancients,*  before  the  Lamb  of  God,  that 

'He  saw  no  victorious  enemy  drag  the  lily,  emblem  on  the 
banner  of  Florence,  in  the  dust,  and  he  never  saw  it  reddened 
by  blood  spilt  as  a  result  of  political  quarrels. 

*The  oracles  of  pagan  times,  such,  for  instance,  as  Delphi 
was  in  the  habit  of  giving  forth. 


312  DANTE 

taketh  away  sins,  had  been  slain;  but  with  clear 
meaning  and  plain  language  did  my  dear  forebear, 
swathed  in,  and  made  manifest  by  his  own  bright- 
ness, answer  me. 

"As  Hippolytus  was  exiled  from  Athens  because 
of  his  cruel  and  treacherous  stepmother,  so  shall  you 
be  driven  out  of  Florence.  This  is  resolved  upon, 
and  will  soon  be  accomplished,  by  him''  who  is  giv- 
ing his  mind  to  it  there  where  Christ  is  every  day 
bought  and  sold.  The  blame,  as  usual,  will  be  laid 
on  the  injured  party,  but  vengeance  shall  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  God  of  truth  Who  repays.  You  will  have 
to  leave  behind  all  that  you  hold  most  dear.  This 
is  the  first  grief  of  exile.  You  will  have  to  learn 
how  bitter  is  the  bread  of  charity  and  how  hard  a 
thing  it  is  to  go  up  and  down  another's  stairs.*  But 
the  most  grievous  burden  laid  upon  you  will  be  the 
evil  and  the  foolish  companions  whom  you  will  find 
in  the  valley  of  exile,  every  one  of  whom,  ingrate, 
mad  and  malevolent,  will  turn  against  you.  But 
soon,  thereafter,  they,  not  you,  shall  burn  crimson 
with  shame.  Of  their  likeness  to  brutes  their  own 
conduct  will  give  proof,  so  that  it  will  be  wise  for 
you  to  have  formed  a  party  by  yourself.* 

"Your  first  refuge  and  abiding  place  will  be  the 


•  Boniface  VIII,  who  at  this  time  was  constantly  trading  in 
Church  offices. 

'To  be  obliged  to  eat  other  men's  bread,  and  find  shelter 
under  other  men's  roofs. 

*To  have  stood  apart,  and  joined  in  none  of  their  quarrels. 


DANTE  313 

courtesy  of  the  great  Lombard,  who  will  develop 
such  deep  affection  for  you  that  when,  between  you 
two,  it  comes  to  asking,  and  doing  good,  that  will 
be  first  which  between  other  men  is  last."^ 

CANTO  XVIII 

The  opening  scene  of  this  canto  is  still  in  the 
sphere  of  Mars.  In  it  some  of  the  other  lights  of 
the  Cross  are  made  known  to  Dante;  soldiers  and 
defenders  of  the  true  faith.  Later  on,  comes  the 
ascent  to  Jupiter,  where  the  souls  of  the  just  are 
made  apparent  by  arranging  themselves  so  as  to 
shape  out  letters,  and  spell  words.  It  is  extraordi- 
nary that  the  complexity  of  the  stage  machinery 
and  the  elaborate  stage  "business"  in  nowise  hin- 
ders the  development,  clear  and  convincing,  of  the 
loveliness  and  grandeur  of  the  ideas  of  this  canto 
in  what  might,  with  entire  truth,  be  called  their 
naked  splendor.  The  whole  canto,  not  more  per- 
haps than  many  others,  but  as  much  surely,  offers 
remarkable  proof  of  Coleridge's  declaration  that, 
"the  two  sole  component  parts,  even  of  genius,  are 


*This  means  that  in  his  exile  Dante's  first  host,  Bartolom- 
meo  della  Scala,  lord  of  Verona,  will  love  him  so  truly  that 
he  will  grant  favors  to  Dante  before  Dante  can  so  much  as 
ask  for  them,  a  reversal  of  the  usual  custom  of  life,  which  is 
first  to  ask  favors  and  then,  to  have  them  granted,  if  granted 
at  all.  The  gall  of  exile  without  cause,  and  the  sweetness  of 
much-needed  but  gratuitous  hospitality  in  an  alien  land,  have 
never  been  more  beautifully  recorded. 


314  DANTE 

good  sense  and  method."  If  genius  requires  more 
than  these,  Dante  had  that  more,  whatever  it  is; 
if  not,  his  method,  meaning  technique,  and  his  good 
sense,  were  enough,  and  must,  as  they  exhibit  them- 
selves in  this  canto  alone,  establish  the  validity  of 
Coleridge's  view.  The  passage  dealing  with  the  na- 
ture of  imagination  and  its  place  in  art,  which  oc- 
curs in  this  canto,  has  been  equaled  but  few  times 
in  the  whole  range  of  letters — once  unquestionably 
by  Shakespeare  in  the  lines  beginning:  "Imagina- 
tion bodies  forth  the  forms  of  things  unseen."  The 
closing  apostrophe  to  papal  avarice  is  one  of  the 
most  touching,  and  at  the  same  time  scathing,  re- 
bukes in  The  Comedy. 

Looking  at  Beatrice,  in  whose  eyes  Dante  sees 
the  light  of  divine  Grace  reflected,  he  forgets  the 
forebodings  of  exile,  and  all  else,  and,  as  he  says, 
is  completely  overcome  by  the  radiance.  Beatrice 
says: 

"Turn  and  listen,  for  not  only  in  my  eyes  is  Patra- 
dise." 

The  light  which  swathes  Cacciaguida  once  more 
begins  to  glow,  and  its  spirit  speaks : 

"In  this  fifth  grade  of  Heaven,  which  draws  its 
life  from  God  on  high,  and  to  which  new  souls  are 
ever  coming,   and   from  which  none  depart,   are 


DANTE  315 

blessed  spirits  who,  before  they  came  to  Heaven, 
had  on  Earth  attained  such  great  renown  as  would 
give  the  loftiest  poets  worthy  theme.  Therefore 
look  with  all  your  might  upon  the  arms  of  the  Cross ; 
he  whom  I  shall  name  will  swiftly  flash,  as  lightning 
among  the  clouds." 

At  the  mention  of  Joshua,  even  during  the  act, 
I  saw  a  light  dart  along  the  Cross.  Word  and  flash 
were  simultaneous.  And  at  the  name  of  the  great 
Maccabeus,  I  saw  another  light  flashing,  and  whirl- 
ing as  it  flashed.  Ecstasy  of  joy  made  it  spin  as  the 
whip  a  top.  Likewise,  when  Charlemagne  and  Roland 
were  named,  my  sharp  gaze  followed  two  more 
lights.  Then  leaving  me  to  take  its  position  among 
other  lights  of  the  Cross,  the  spirit  that  had  been 
speaking  showed  me  how  noble  a  place  was  his  in 
the  choir  of  Heaven. 

I  turned  to  my  right  hand  and  sought,  by  look  or 
gesture,  to  learn  from  Beatrice  what  next  to  do,  and 
I  beheld  her  eyes  so  sparkling  and  so  rapturous,  that 
her  beauty  outdazzled  its  usual  and  its  utmost 
brightness.  As  a  man,  whose  joy  increases  in 
well-doing,  knows  that  his  virtue  is  advancing,  so 
I,  seeing  the  wondrous  Beatrice  grown  more  glori- 
ous, perceived  that  the  circle  of  the  sphere  in  which 
I  moved  had  increased  its  arc*    And  as,  in  brief 


*  The  higher  the  sphere,  the  greater  and  the  nearer  to  God, 
and  therefore  the  more  glorious  in  itself,  and  the  more  glori- 
ous in  appearance  must  they,  who  are  in  it,  be. 


316  DANTE 

space  of  time,  the  blush  on  a  lady's  cheek  leaves 
her  and  she  regains  her  natural  color,  such  was  the 
change  there,  because  of  the  whiteness  of  the  tem- 
perate sixth  sphere^  of  Jupiter,  which  had  received 
me  within  itself.*  There,  within  Jove's  planet,  I  be- 
held its  spirits  sparkling  with  love  and,  before  my 
very  eyes,  spelling  words  in  light.  And,  as  birds, 
risen  from  a  river's  bank,  seeming  to  exalt  over  their 
pasturage,  form  a  flock,  now  round,  now  of  other 
shape,  so,  enveloped  in  their  flames,  these  blessed 
creatures  sang  as  they  flew,  and  flying,  made  them- 
selves now  D,  now  I,  now  L.*  At  first,  as  they 
sang,  they  swayed  to  their  own  music,  but  when 
they  had  formed  into  one  of  these  letters,  they 
paused  a  while  and  kept  silence. 

O  divine  Pegasea,  who  makest  the  wits  of  men 
glorious,  and  renderest  them  long-lived,  as  they, 
through  thee,  the  cities  and  the  kingdoms,  illumine 
me  with  thyself  that  I  may  set  forth  their  shapes, 
as  I  have  conceived  them;  let  thy  power  appear  in 
these  brief  verses  ? 

The  spirits  of  light  now  spell  out  the  entire  sen- 
tence, *'Diligite  justitiam,  qui  judicatis  terram/'* 

'Jupiter  was  called  temperate  because  it  was  between  the 
fiery  Mars  and  the  cold  Saturn. 

'  They  have  passed  up  into  the  next  sphere,  that  of  Jupiter. 

*The  first  letters  of  Diligite,  "Love  ye,"  from  the  Wisdom 
of  Solomon  i:l.  "Love  righteousness  ye  that  be  judges  of 
the  earth." 

'This  passage  is  given  in  the  words  of  Professor  Norton's 
jtranslation,  revised  edition. 


DANTE  317 

and  then  rise  and  disperse  like  sparks  when  a  burn- 
ing log  is  struck.  Finally,  each  having  taken  its 
own  place,  and  become  quiet,  Dante  says: 

I  saw  the  head  and  neck  of  an  Eagle^  depicted  by 
that  patterned  fire. 

O  soldiery  of  Heaven  on  whom  I  gaze,  pray  for 
those  who  down  in  the  world  have  all  gone  astray, 
following  an  evil  example!'  Formerly  it  was  the 
custom  to  wage  war  with  swords,  but  now  it  is 
waged  by  withholding,  sometimes  here,  sometimes 
there,  that  bread^  which  the  pitying  Father  denies 
to  none. 

But  you,  who  write  only  to  cancel,®  should  bear  in 
mind  that  Peter  and  Paul,  who  died  for  the  sake  of 
the  vineyard  that  you  are  laying  waste,  do  still  live. 
In  truth,  can  you  say:  "So  fixedly  have  I  set  my 
heart  on  him^°  who  willed  to  live  solitary,  and  who 
for  a  dance  was  dragged  to  martyrdom,  that  I  know 
neither  the  Fisherman  nor  Paul," 


'The  emblem  of  justice,  the  Eagle,  was,  of  course,  the 
symbol  of  the  Empire.  Dante  makes  this  the  excuse  for  in- 
veighing against  the  corruptions  of  the  Papacy  which  were 
at  that  time  the  main  stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  justice. 

*The  example  of  a  wicked  Pope,  Boniface  VIII. 

'The  sacraments  of  the  Church. 

'The  Pope  who  writes  excommunications  for  the  sake  of 
being  paid  to  erase,  and  so  withdraw  them, 

"The  image  of  St.  John  Baptist  was  on  the  golden  florin, 
and  it  was  florins,  or  money,  on  which  the  Pope  set  his  heart 


318  DANTE 

I 

CANTO  XIX 

In  front  of  me,  with  wings  outspread,  loomed 
the  Eagle's  splendid  image,^  outlined  in  flaming 
souls  joyful  in  their  glad  fruition.  Each  was  like 
a  little  ruby  struck  by  a  ray  of  intense  sunlight, 
the  light  reflected  back  to  my  eyes.  And  that  which 
I  must  needs  now  relate,  was  never  told  by  voice 
before,  nor  written,  nor  by  imagination  compre- 
hended, for  I  saw,  and  likewise  heard,  the  beak  speak 
words,  and  utter  both  "I,"  and  "My,"  when  in  real- 
ity it  was  "We,"  and  "Our."" 

And  it  began : 

"Because  of  justice  and  goodness  I  am  exalted  to 
the  glory  of  Paradise.  On  Earth  I  left  a  memory, 
such  that  even  the  evil-minded  commend  it,  though 
they  do  not  follow  the  example  which  its  tradition 
inculcates." 

Dante  now  inquires  concerning  the  eternal  justice 
of  God,  and  how  it  can  damn  the  virtuous  heathen. 
The  Eagle  answers : 


*  The  Eagle,  symbol  of  Justice  under  the  Empire. 

*The  Eagle  speaks  in  the  singular  number,  whereas  the 
thoughts  which  he  expresses  are  plural,  coming  from  the 
minds  of  the  many  souls  by  which  he  is  shaped.  The  whole 
symbolizes  the  harmonious  will  of  the  Just,  and  the  unity  of 
Justice  under  the  Empire.  The  whole  theory  of  this  canto  is 
contained  in  Shirley's  lines : 

"Only  the  actions  of  the  just 

Smell  sweet  and  blossom  in  the  dust." 


PANTE  319 

"He  whose  compasses  fixed  the  circumference  of 
the  world,  and  who  set  within  it  so  much  that  is 
hidden  and  so  much  that  is  manifest,  could  not 
stamp  His  personality  on  the  whole  Universe  in 
such  a  way  that  his  Word'  should  not  immeasurably 
exceed  all  human  powers  of  understanding.  There- 
fore the  vision  which  the  world  down  yonder  re- 
ceives of  Eternal  Justice,  penetrates  it,  much  as  your 
eye  does  the  ocean.  Though  near  the  shore  you  look 
to  the  bottom,  on  the  open  sea  you  do  not,  yet  none 
the  less  is  the  bottom  there,  though  the  depth  con- 

■  Wisdom. 

"He  took  the  golden  compasses,  prepared 

In  God's  eternal  store,  to  circumscribe 

This  universe  .  .  . 

And  said,    .    .    . 

This  be  thy  just  circumference,  O  world  1** 

Paradise  Lost,  VII.  225. 
Along  with  Dante's  and  Milton's  treatment  of  this  subject 
(it  may  be  called  the  definite  aspect  of  creation),  a  superb 
illustration,  of  that  sort  of  art  wherein  reasoned  imagina- 
tion far  outdistances  knowledge,  another  and  equally  re- 
markable treatment  of  the  same  subject  should  be  remem- 
bered, the  drawing  of  God  setting  compasses  to  the  world,  by 
William  Blake.  Like  the  Italian  and  the  English  verses 
under  consideration,  this  drawing  also  has  that  epic  grandeur 
which  is  never  attained  by  art  save  as  the  artist  ruth- 
lessly turns  his  back  on  every  adventitious  detail,  and 
sets  his  heart  on  the  essential  part  of  his  subject,  and  his 
subject  IS  sublime.  In  the  poets'  and  the  painters'  accounts  of 
the  "laying  off"  of  this  world's  measurements  we  have  perfect 
illustration  of  how  art  attains  to  majesty;  to  sublimity.  All 
such  things  give  increase  of  meaning  to  Swedenborg*s  "There 
is  nothing  existing  in  human  thought,  even  though  relating  to 
the  most  mysterious  tenet  of  faith,  but  has  combined  with  it 
a  natural  and  sensuous  image."  This  same  sentence  helps 
to  clear  our  understanding  and  appreciation  of  Blake's  draw- 
ing, and  the  lines  of  Dante  and  Milton,  all  three  being  essen- 
tially one  and  the  same. 


320  DANTE 

ceals  it.  There  Is  no  light  save  that  which  comes 
from  God's  Serene  Heaven,  which  light  is  never 
darkened.  All  other  light  is  darkness,  either  shadow 
of  flesh,  or  its  poison,  sin. 

"You  say :  'Suppose  a  man  is  bom  on  the  banks 
of  the  Indus,*  where  there  is  none  to  tell  him  of 
Christ,  and  nought  that  he  may  read  of  Him,  and 
none  to  write;  yet  every  act  of  this  man,  and  all 
of  his  desires  are  righteous,  and,  so  far  as  human 
reason  can  see,  his  life  is  sinless  in  deed  and  word. 
He  dies  unbaptized,  and  without  faith;  what  sort  of 
Justice  is  that  which  sends  him  down  to  Hell? 
Wherein  is  he  at  fault  for  not  believing?' 

"Now  who  are  you  that,  having  extremely  short 
sight,  would  sit  in  judgment  on  that  which  is  a 
thousand  miles  away?  Verily,  for  him  who  would 
ask  subtle  questions  of  me,  were  not  the  matter  set- 
tled by  authority  of  Scripture,  there  would  be  ample 
reason  for  doubting."^ 

Later  on  in  the  canto  comes  a  wonderful  passage 
in  which  Eagle  declares  that : 

"To  this  Kingdom  no  one  ever  ascended  who  had 
not  believed  in  Christ  either  before  or  after  He  was 


*  A  heathen. 

'  The  Eagle,  in  effect,  says  that  divine  Justice  is  utterly  be- 
yond the  furthest  reach  of  human  understanding,  but  declares, 
with  Scripture,  that  works  without  faith  are  not  enough  for 
salvation. 


DANTE  321 

crucified.  But  behold  how  many  now  cry,  'Christ, 
Christ,'  who  at  the  Last  Judgment  shall  be  far  less 
near  to  Him  than  some  who  knew  Him  not,  and 
the  Ethiop'  shall  make  such  Christians  appear  worth- 
less indeed  when  the  saved  and  the  damned  shall 
be  separated,  the  one  to  all  eternity  rich,  the  other 
poor." 

CANTO  XX 

The  scene  of  this  canto  continues  in  the  sphere  of 
Jupiter,  and  the  starry  Eagle  continues  to  speak. 

As  sound  takes  the  form  of  music  at  the  neck  of 
a  guitar,  and  as  at  the  mouth-hole  of  a  bagpipe  the 
blowing  makes  notes,  so,  without  more  delay,  a  mur- 
mur rose  through  the  Eagle's  throat  to  its  beak,  as 
if  it  were  hollow.  And  there  it  became  a  voice, 
and  thence  it  burst  forth  in  the  shape  of  words, 
such  as  my  heart,^  whereon  I  wrote  them,  was 
awaiting. 

"That  organ  in  me  which  in  earthly  eagles  has 
strength  enough  to  look  at  the  sun,"  began  the  heav- 
enly Eagle,  "you  must  now  watch  with  care,  because 
of  all  the  starry  lights  that  are  united  to  delineate 
my  shape,  those  that  sparkle  about  my  eye  are  chief. 
He  who  shines  in  the  center,  as  pupil  of  my  eye, 
was  the  singer  of  the  Holy  Spirit  who  bore  the  Ark 

•  Heathen. 

*  Memory. 


322  DANTE 

from  city  to  city.  Now  he  knows  the  merit  of  his 
song  because  his  reward  is  proportioned  to  it.  Of 
the  five  who  form  the  curve  of  my  eyebrow,  the 
one  nearest  my  beak  was  he  who  consoled  the  poor 
widow  for  her  son  f  now  he  knows,  through  expe- 
rience of  this  blessed  state,  and  of  its  opposite,  how 
dear  a  price  is  paid  for  not  following  Christ.  And 
he  who  comes  next  upon  the  rise  of  the  curve,  of 
which  I  am  speaking,  through  sincere  repentance 
put  off  death  f  now  he  understands  that  the  eternal 
judgment  is  not  altered  when  a  worthy  prayer 
causes  what  was  ordained  for  to-day  to  be  put  off 
until  to-morrow.  The  next,  with  good  intention 
that  bore  evil  fruit,  in  order  to  make  place  for  the 
Pope,  made  the  laws,  and  me,  as  well  as  himself, 
Greek;*  now  he  knows  how  the  evil  which  has  re- 
sulted from  his  good  deed  has  not  diminished  his 
own  glory,  although  that  deed  should  destroy  the 
world.  And  he  on  the  sinking  curve  was  William, 
whom  that  realm  mourns  which  now  suffers  because 
Charles  and  Frederick  are  alive  ;^  now  he  knows 
how  Heaven  loves  a  just  king,  and  in  the  brightness 


'Trajan,  who  from  Hell  was  taken  to  Paradise. 

•Hezekiah  by  repentance  was  given  fifteen  years  of  addi- 
tional life. 

*Constantine  by  leaving  Rome  to  the  Papacy  helped  to 
found  its  temporal  power,  which  later  made  trouble.  By 
taking  the  government  and  the  Eagle,  i.  e.,  the  Empire,  to 
Byzantium,  afterward  Constantinople,  they  and  the  laws  be- 
came Greek,  Byzantium  being  a  Greek  city. 
,  'William  II,  called  the  Good,  king  of  Sicily,  who  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Charles  and  Frederick,  evil  rulers. 


DANTE  323 

of  his  light  he  declares  it.  Who,  down  in  the  wicked 
world,  would  believe  that  Rhipeus,®  the  Trojan,  was 
fifth  among  the  saintly  fires  in  the  curve  of  my  eye- 
brow? He  now  knows  much  about  divine  grace 
that  the  world  can  not  know,  although  even  his 
vision  pierces  not  to  the  utmost  depths." 

The  Eagle  goes  on  to  explain  how  it  is  that  Tra- 
jan and  Rhipeus,  both  pagans,  have  been  received 
into  Heaven.  Trajan,  because  of  the  prayers  of  St. 
Gregory  the  Great,  was  brought  back  from  Hell 
after  four  hundred  years,  refleshed  and  given  time 
to  repent,  which  he  did  and  so  secured  salvation. 
Because  of  his  justice  he  was  given  such  high  sta- 
tion in  the  sphere  of  the  just,  and  sits  among  the 
lights  in  the  brow  of  the  Eagle;  Rhipeus,  because 
he  set  his  heart  on  virtue  and  goodness,  was,  by 
God's  grace,  saved.  The  Eagle  explains  that  a  thou- 
sand years  before  baptism  was  heard  of,  the  faith, 
hope  and  charity  which  were  his,  served  for  his  bap- 
tism.   Then : 

"O  predestination,  how  hidden  are  thy  workings 
from  the  understanding  of  those  who  are  not  able 
to  fathom  the  mind  of  God.  And  you,  mortals,  be 
you  careful  in  judging,  for  even  we,  who  here  see 
God,  know  not  all  the  elect.    But  to  us  this  lack  of 


*  Rhipeus  is  mentioned  by  Virgil  as  the  most  just  man  of  all 
the  Trojans. 


324  DANTE 

t 

perfect  knowledge  is  sweet,  for  our  happiness  is  con- 
summated in  this,  that  what  God  wills  we  also  will." 

The  story  about  Rhipeus  is  of  Dante's  own  cre- 
ating; that  about  Trajan,  an  ancient  tradition.  As 
the  entire  canto  is  a  most  noble  hymn  in  praise 
of  justice,  these  two  stories  bespeak  a  marvelous 
strength  of  inherent  justice  in  Dante,  the  individual, 
and  a  not  less  wonderful  faith  in  the  doctrine  that, 
"with  God,  all  things  are  possible."  It  is  just  this 
that  Ruskin  means,  where  in  The  Bible  of  Amiens 
he  says:  "Quite  the  most  beautiful  sign  of  the 
power  of  true  Christian-Catholic  faith  is  this  con- 
tinual acknowledgment  by  it  of  the  brotherhood — 
nay,  more,  the  fatherhood,  of  the  elder  nations  who 
had  not  seen  Christ;  but  had  been  filled  with  the 
Spirit  of  God ;  and  obeyed,  according  to  their  knowl- 
edge, His  unwritten  law.  The  pure  charity  and  hu- 
mility of  this  temper  are  seen  in  all  Christian  art, 
according  to  its  strength  and  purity  of  race;  but 
best,  to  the  full,  seen  and  interpreted  by  the  three 
great  Christian-Heathen  poets,  Dante,  Douglas  of 
Dunkeld,  and  George  Chapman." 

CANTO   XXI 

The  ascent  to  the  seventh  sphere,  that  of  Saturn, 
is  made  at  the  opening  of  this  canto. 

Within  the  crystal  sphere  which,  revolving  round 
the   world,   is   named   after   its   illustrious   ruler, 


DANTE  325 

Saturn,  whose  reign  was  the  world's  golden  age  of 
sinlessness,  I  beheld  a  glittering  ladder  that  rose  be- 
yond my  sight.  And  I  saw  coming  down  it  such  a 
vast  number  of  resplendent  creatures  that  I  thought 
all  the  stars  in  Heaven  had  been  shed  upon  it.^ 

St.  Peter  Damian,  a  famous  doctor  of  the  Church 
in  the  eleventh  century  speaks  with  Dante,  first,  tell- 
ing how  he  came  to  such  an  exalted  place,  and  later, 
hurling  bitter  invective  against  the  present  luxury 
of  the  priesthood.  Of  what  is  happening  at  the 
monastery  of  Fonte  Avellana,^  he  says : 

"I  became  so  devoted  to  the  service  of  God  that, 
with  no  other  food  than  olive  juice,  satisfied  with 
the  contemplative  life  alone,  I  easily  endured  both 
summer's  heat,  and  winter's  cold.  In  former  days, 
that  cloister  yielded  an  abundant  harvest  to  these 
Heavens,  but  now  it  has  become  barren  as  must,  of 
necessity,  soon  appear.  In  that  place  I  was  Peter 
Damian,  and  Peter  the  sinner  I  had  been.  Few 
were  the  years  left  to  me  when  I  was  sought  out 
and  dragged  to  that  hat'  which  is  now  regularly 

*Tlii3  is  Jacob's  Ladder,  Gen.  xxviii,  12,  "upon  which," 
says  St.  Bernard,  "is  whosoever  aspires  to  Heaven.  It  is  the 
Church  Universal." 

It  signifies  the  contemplative  life,  because  of  which  the 
soul,  meditating  upon  God,  ascends  to  Him. 

*  Not  far  from  Urbino. 

•  St.  Peter  Damian,  against  his  will,  was  made  Cardinal 
Bishop  of  Ostia.  The  increasing  corruption  of  the  College 
of  Cardinals  is  referred  to  by  the  "bad  to  worse." 


326  DANTE 

passed  down  from  bad  to  worse.  Cephas*  came, 
and  the  great  vessel  of  the  Holy  Spirit"  came,  lean 
and  barefoot,  and  got  their  food  at  any  house  that 
chanced.  But  nowadays  the  modern  prelates  require 
attendants  for  support  upon  either  hand,  and  an- 
other to  go  before,  so  fat  are  they  grown,  and  yet 
others  behind,  to  carry  their  trains.  Their  mantles 
cover  their  palfreys,  so  that  two  beasts  go  under  one 
hide.    O  Patience  of  God  that  can  endure  so  much !" 

CANTO  XXII 

St.  Benedict  appears  and  tells  of  the  founding 
and  decline  of  the  Benedictine  Order. 

"The  top  of  that  mountain  on  the  side  of  which 
Cassino*  lies,  was  of  old  inhabited  by  a  pagan  race. 
I  am  he  who  first  carried  to  its  summit,  the  name  of 
Him  who  brought  to  Earth  the  truth,  because  of 
vvhich  we  here  are  so  high  exalted.  Such  grace  was 
showered  on  me  that  I  induced  the  surrounding  vil- 
lages to  give  up  the  impious  worship  which  was  mis- 
leading the  world.  With  me  here,  are  my  brothers ; 
they  who  fixed  their  feet  within  the  cloisters,  and 
kept  steadfast  hearts." 

*St  Peter,  the  rock  on  which  the  Qiurch  was  founded. 
John  i:42. 

*  St.  Paul.    Acts  ix  :15. 

*  Monte  Cassino,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  crowned  with 
a  temple  to  Apollo,  was  chosen  by  St.  Benedict  as  the  spot  on 
which  to  found,  in  529,  the  first  monastery  of  his  Order. 


dante;  327, 

I  answered : 

"The  affection  that  you  show  in  speaking  witH 
me,  and  the  propitious  aspect  which  I  see  and  mark 
throughout  the  surrounding  company  of  lights,  have 
expanded  my  trust,  as  the  sun  a  rose.  Therefore,  I 
pray  you,  Father,  tell  me  whether  I  am  fit  to  receive 
such  great  grace  as  that  of  seeing  your  countenance, 
>vithout  the  veil  of  its  concealing  light." 

ST.    BENEDICT 

"Brother,  your  noble  wish  shall  be  granted  up  in 
the  last  sphere,  there  where  all  others  are  to  be 
granted,  and  mine,  too.  There,  every  desire  be- 
comes righteous,  perfect,  complete.  There  are  nei- 
ther space  nor  poles,^  and  thereto  our  ladder  reaches 
up,  and  hence  the  top  of  it  is  beyond  your  sight. 
Up  to  that  point  the  patriarch  Jacob  saw  it  stretch, 
when  it  was  revealed  to  him,  laden  with  so  many 
angels.  But  nowadays  no  human  being  attempts 
to  climb  it,  and  my  Rule'  counts  for  no  more  than 
waste  paper.  Those  walls  that  once  were  the  house 
of  prayer,  have  become  dens,  and  the  cowls  are  sacks 
full  of  bad  meal.  But  heavy  usury  is  not  exacted 
so  absolutely  contrary  to  God's  pleasure,  as  that 
fruit  which  makes  the  heart  of  the  monks  so  mad; 
for  everything  which  the  Church  holds  in  keeping, 

'The  Empyrean,  immovable,  without  axis  or  poles. 
*  Jhe  law  of  the  Benedictine  Order. 


328  DANTE 

is  all  for  them  who  ask  it  in  the  name  of  God,  and 
not  for  kindred,  or  others  more  vile.  Mortal  flesh 
is  so  weak  that  a  good  earthly  beginning  does  not 
give  assurance  from  the  springing  of  the  oak  to  the 
ripening  of  the  acorn.  Peter  began  without  gold 
or  silver,  and  I  with  prayer  and  fasting,  and  Francis 
founded  his  convent  on  humility.  And  if  you  re- 
gard the  beginning  of  each,  and  then  realize  how 
far  it  has  gone  astray,  you  will  see  that  what  was 
white  is  now  soiled.  Truly  it  would  be  more  mar- 
velous to  witness  succor  in  this  case,  than  it  was  to 
see  Jordan  rolled  back,  and  the  sea  fleeing  when  God 
willed  it." 

Dante  now  prays  for  greater  light,  and  power  of 
heavenly  knowledge,  to  complete  his  work,  and 
Beatrice  says : 

"So  close  on  ultimate  salvation  are  you  now  that, 
in  truth,  your  eyes  need  be  clear  and  keen.  There- 
fore, before  you  go  deeper  into  it,  again  look  down 
and  see  how  vast  a  universe  I  have  already  set  be- 
neath your  feet,  in  order  that  your  heart,  rejoicing 
to  its  utmost,  may  be  presented  joyous  unto  the  tri- 
umphant throng  which,  all  gladness,  moves  through 
the  spheral  ether." 

My  gaze  traveled  back  across  all  the  seven 
spheres,  and  lighted  on  this  globe  of  ours,  so  small 
that  I  smiled  at  its  paltry  aspect ;  and  that  counsel  J, 


DANTE  329 

approve  as  test,  which  holds  it  to  be  of  the  least 
account.  Truly  he  may  be  numbered  among  the 
righteous  who  sets  his  thoughts  elsewhere.  I  saw 
the  daughter  of  Latona*  shining  without  her  spots. 
The  dazzling  brightness  of  the  sun  I  could  there  en- 
dure, and  I  marked  how,  round  about  it,  and  near  to 
it,  moved  Mercury  and  Venus.  Then  to  my  sight 
appeared  the  temperate  Jove,  between  his  father, 
Saturn,  and  Mars,  his  son;  and  then  I  understood 
the  reason  for  the  variation  in  their  movements. 
There  I  saw  all  seven  of  them,"  how  vast  they  are, 
and  how  swift-moving  they  are,  and  how  far  from 
one  another  they  are  placed.  The  little  threshing- 
floor  of  Earth,  about  which  we  are  so  arrogant,  lay 
spread  out  beneath  my  eyes,  from  hill-top  to  river 
mouth,  as  I  revolved  with  the  eternal  Twins.' 

Then  I  turned  my  eyes  back  to  the  beautiful  eyes 
of  Beatrice. 

CANTO  XXIII 

The  spirits  that  have  part  in  the  triumph  of 
Christ  appear,  and  then  a  vision  of  Christ  Him- 
self is  granted.  Overcome  by  the  surpassing  bright- 
ness, the  Vision  withdraws  on  high,  and  the  light 
pours  down  over  the  garden  of  Christ,  wherein 

*The  Moon. 

•The  planets. 

•Dante  is  standing?  in  the  sign  of  Gemini,  when  he  takes 
this  general  view  of  the  universe,  and  more  particular  look  at 
the  world. 


330  DANTE 

Dante  sees  the  Virgin  rose,  and  the  Apostohc  liHes. 
At  last,  the  Angel  Gabriel  descends,  and  crowns  the 
Virgin,  upon  which  she  rises  into  the  Empyrean, 
and  all  the  saints  flame  upward  as  if  to  follow  her. 
Full  of  mysticism  and  beauty,  a  thing  to  be  under- 
stood as  far  as  possible,  and,  beyond  that,  felt, — this 
canto  is  of  amazing  loveliness.  It  is  easy  to  realize 
why  it  has  often  been  maintained  to  be  the  most 
exalted  poetry  in  The  Comedy. 

Beatrice,  rapt  in  expectation,  is  gazing  fixedly  on 
high  when,  suddenly,  her  countenance  becomes  far 
more  resplendent  than  Dante  has  yet  seen  it,  and  she 
exclaims : 

**Behold  the  hosts  of  the  Triumph  of  Christ,  and 
all  the  fruits  harvested  by  the  influence  of  Heaven." 

Her  face  fairly  blazed  it  seemed  to  me,  and  her 
eyes  were  so  full  of  joy  that,  without  even  attempt- 
ing a  description,  I  am  obliged  to  pass  on. 

As  in  the  clear  Heavens,  at  her  full,  the  moon 
smiles  among  the  eternal  stars  which  enrich  the 
firmament,  throughout  its  immeasurable  depths,  so 
I  saw,  brighter  than  numberless  lamps,  a  Sun  from 
which  they  all  received  their  light,  as  the  stars, 
theirs,  from  our  sun.*  And,  through  that  living 
fire,  the  glory  of  Christ  smote  so  bright  upon  my 
face,  that  I  could  not  endure  it. 

O  Beatrice,  my  guide,  gentle  and  adored ! 

*  The  stars  were  supposed  to  get  their  h'ght  from  the  sun. 


DANTE  331 

She  replied : 

"That  which  overwhelms  you  is  a  power  from 
which  nothing  can  shield  itself.  Here  are  the  Wis- 
dom and  the  Virtue  that  opened  the  way  between 
Heaven  and  Earth,  for  which  there  had  been  so  long 
a  period  of  yearning." 

Dante,  utterly  overcome,  is  brought  back  to  him- 
self by  Beatrice,  who  says : 

"Open  your  eyes,  and  behold  me,  as  I  am,  for  you 
have  seen  such  things  that,  from  now  on,  you  will 
be  able  to  sustain  my  smile." 

I  was  like  one  who  is  still  subject  to  the  effect  of 
a  forgotten  vision,  as  he  strives  vainly  to  recall  it  to 
his  thought,  when  I  heard  this  invitation,  which  be- 
got such  gratitude  that  it  can  never  be  erased  from 
those  leaves  of  my  memory,  whereon  are  written  the 
records  of  the  past.  If  all  the  tongues  were  now  to 
sound  for  my  assistance  which  Polyhymnia  and  her 
sisters  have  endowed  with  their  sweetest  gifts,  the 
thousandth  part  of  the  truth  could  not  be  compassed 
in  singing  of  her  blessed  smile,  and  how  it  sanctified 
her  holy  countenance.  And  so,  in  picturing  Para- 
dise, the  consecrated  poem  must  needs  make  a  leap, 
like  a  man  who  finds  his  way  cut  off.  But  whoever 
considers  the  weighty  theme,  and  the  mortal  shoul- 
der that  must  carry  it,  will  not  blame  me  if  I  stagger. 
It  is  no  voyage  for  a  little  bark,  this  which  my  dar- 


332  DANTE 

ing  prow  goes  cleaving,  nor  for  a  pilot  who  would 
spare  himself. 

BEATRICE 

"Why  does  my  face  so  absorb  your  love  that  you 
heed  not  the  fair  garden''  which  blooms  beneath 
Christ's  radiant  light  ?  Here  is  the  Rose^  in  which 
the  Divine  Word  was  made  flesh ;  here  are  the  lilies* 
whose  fragrance  made  it  possible  to  follow  the  true 
way." 

The  name  of  that  beautiful  flower,  on  which  I 
call  both  morning  and  night,  chained  all  my  thoughts 
to  itself,  as  the  brightest  of  all  the  lights.  And 
when  my  vision  had  been  stamped  with  the  bril- 
liance and  vastness  of  that  living  star,  which  excels 
on  high,  as  she  excelled  down  here,  there  descended, 
from  out  the  heart  of  Heaven,  a  ring  of  fire,  shaped 
like  a  crown,  which  circled  her,"  and  wheeled  around 
her.  Whatever  melody  sounds  sweetest  upon  Earth, 
and  most  enthralls  our  souls,  would  resemble  a  thun- 
derclap, compared  with  the  tones  of  that  Iyre,°  which 
crowned  the  heavenly  Sapphire  whose  azure  gives 
the  color  to  the  Empyrean  sky. 

*The  saints. 
"The  Virgin. 

•  Apostles  and  Saints.    The  image  is  taken  from  St.  Paul, 
2  Corinthians  ii  :14. 

•  The  Virgin,  or  the  star  that  was  the  Virgin,  chief  glory  of 
the  garden  of  the  Blest. 

•  Gabriel. 


DANTE  333 

This  music-scattering  lyre,  circle  of  sweet-sound- 
ing light,  Angel  of  the  Virgin's  Coronation,  now 
chants : 

*T  am  Love  Angelic,  circling  that  Supreme  joy 
which  breathes  from  out  the  womb  which  was 
Christ's  pre-natal  dwelling;  and  I  shall  go  on  cir- 
cling, Queen  of  Heaven,  until,  following  your  Son, 
you  shall  confer  more  divinity  upon  the  Empyrean, 
by  entering  it/* 

Into  such  words  did  the  circling  melody  shape 
itself,  and  the  name  of  Mary,  by  all  the  other  stars, 
was  sung. 

This  chant  of  Gabriel's  ended,  the  Virgin  rises  to 
Christ  in  the  Empyrean,  and  is  lost  to  sight.  The 
saints  remain  below  with  Dante. 

He  next  describes  the  Primum  Mobile  calling  it  a 

royal  mantle  for  all  the  revolving  spheres  of  the 
universe, 

and  tells  us  that  its  inner  side  was  so  far  distant 
that  his  eyes  could  not  follow 

the  crowned  flame^  when  she  mounted  thither  to  her 
offspring.® 


*  The  Virgin. 

•  Christ 


334  DANTE 

Before  my  eyes  the  saints  began  to  sing  "Regina 
coelP  so  sweetly,  that  the  pleasure  given,  never 
leaves  me.  Oh,  how  great  is  the  abundance  stored 
up  in  those  thrice  blessed  souls  who  on  Earth  were 
such  good  ground  for  the  seed  of  righteousness.' 
Here  they  dwell,  and  here  enjoy  the  treasure  laid 
up  while  they  wept  in  that  exile  of  Babylon,  where 
they  paid  no  heed  to  gold.  Here  beneath  the  exalted 
Son  of  God  and  Mary,  together  with  saints,  both  of 
the  Old  and  the  New  Testament,  triumphing  in  his 
victory  is  he^**  throned  who  holds  the  keys  to  all  this 
glory. 

It  is  such  "unfathomable  song"  as  this  canto  that 
can  alone  make  one  realize  what  Shelley  means 
iwhen  he  says:  "Poetry  exalts  the  beauty  of  that 
which  is  most  beautiful;  it  marries  exaltation  and 
horror,  grief  and  pleasure,  eternity  and  change; — 
every  form  moving  within  the  radiance  of  its  pres- 
ence is  changed  by  wondrous  sympathy  to  an  in- 
carnation of  the  spirit  which  it  breathes." 

CANTOS  XXIV,  XXV,  XXVI 

These  three  cantos  form  a  group  apart,  but, 
taken  together,  they  are  an  important  link  in  the 

'A  hymn  appointed  by  the  Church  to  be  sung  on  certain 
days  following  Easter.    It  is  one  of  the  noblest  of  all  hjmns. 

"Rejoice,  O  Queen  of  Heaven,  for  He  whom  thou  wert 
worthy  to  bear,  has  risen  as  He  promised;  to  God,  pray  for 
us.    Hallelujah." 

"^fe  Peter. 


DANTE  335 

chain  of  consequences  -which  lead  to  the  natural 
culmination  of  the  Paradise.  In  them  is  given  an 
account  of  the  examination  which  Dante,  like  every 
human  being,  must  pass  upon  the  three  subjects. 
Faith,  Hope  and  Charity,  before  he  is  ready  to  par- 
take of  that  glory  to  which  we  are  told,  at  the  close 
of  Canto  XXIV,  St.  Peter  holds  the  keys.  Beatrice 
presents  Dante  for  his  examination  in  each  of  the 
three  subjects. 

CANTO  XXIV    ' 

! 

It  opens  with  a  passage  in  which  Beatrice  appeals 
to  the  Apostles  and  the  Saints  to  bestow  some  of 
their  knowledge  upon  her  companion  and  friend. 

"O  Fellowship  elect  to  the  great  supper  of 
the  blessed  Lamb,  Who  so  feeds  you  that  your 
desire  is  always  satisfied,  inasmuch  as  this  man,  by 
God's  grace,  is  having  some  foretaste  of  that  which 
drops  from  your  table,*  before  death  has  fixed  the 
number  of  his  days,  give  heed  to  his  intense  longing, 
and  somewhat  refresh  him,  since  you  are  always 
drinking  at  the  fountain  whence  flows  the  knowledge 
for  which  he  thirsts." 


A  light  of  greater  brightness  than  the  others 
)mes  forth  from  the  throng  of  eel 
is  St.  Peter.    To  him  Beatrice  says : 


comes  forth  from  the  throng  of  celestial  fires.     It 


*  Knowledge  of  divine  things. 


336  DANTE 

*'0  light,  everlasting,  of  the  great  man  with' 
whom  our  Lord  left  the  keys  of  this  marvelous 
joy ;  the  keys,  he  carried  to  the  world ;  examine  this 
man,  as  pleases  you,  on  points  easy  and  difficult, 
concerning  the  Faith  by  means  of  which  you  walked 
upon  the  sea." 

•      ST.    PETER 

"Speak,  good  Christian,  make  yourself  clear. 
What  is  Faith?" 

DANTE 

"May  the  grace  which  vouchsafes  to  me  that  I 
confess  to  the  chief  centurian,  cause  my  ideas  to  be 
wisely  worded ! 

"As  the  truthful  pen,  Father,  of  your  beloved 
brother*  (who,  together  with  yourself,  set  Rome  on 
the  right  road),  wrote.  Faith  is  the  substance  of 
things  hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen  f  and  this  appears  to  me  to  be  the  essence  of  it." 

ST.    PETER 

**You  apprehend  rightly,  if  you  discern  correctly 
why  he  ranked  it  first  with  the  substances,  and  then 
with  the  evidences." 


» St.  Paul. 
•Hebrews  xi  :1. 


DANTE  2>o7 


DANTE 


"The  profound  mysteries  which  are  here  under- 
standable, on  Earth  are  so  hidden  from  human  eyes 
that  their  very  existence  is  a  matter  of  Faith,  upon 
which  our  high  hopes  are  founded,  and  for  this  rea- 
son it  is  known  as  substance.  From  this  faith  we 
deduce  our  reasoning  without  more  insight,  and 
hence  it  comes  to  be  designated  as  evidence."* 

ST.    PETER 

"If  all  that  in  the  world  passes  for  doctrine,  were 
understood  after  this  manner,  foolish  argument 
would  there  be  done  away  with.  Very  well  have 
you  explained  the  alloy  and  the  weight  of  the  coin;** 
but  tell  me,  have  you  it  in  your  own  purse  ?"* 

DANTE 

"Yes,  I  have  it  so  shining  and  so  round  that  in  its 
stamp  there  is  nothing  doubtful  to  me." 


*All  our  ideas  concerning  another  world  are  matters  of 
belief,  the  spiritual  world  having  no  visible  or  provable  exist- 
ence upon  Earth.  Hope  of  a  future  life,  and  another  world, 
rests  on  belief  which  implies  Faith.  It  is  properly  called  sub- 
stance, being  the  foundation  on  which  hope  rests.  Again, 
since  our  belief,  which  is  Faith,  gives  us  our  grounds  for  rea- 
soning about  the  future,  it  is  properly  called  evidence. 

•  Faith. 

•  Your  heart. 


338  •  DANTE 

ST.    PETER 

"This  precious  gem  upon  which  every  virtue  rests, 
whence  came  it  to  you  ?" 

DANTE 

"The  plenteous  rain  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is 
poured  forth  upon  the  Old  and  the  New  parchments, 
is  an  argument  which  proves  it  to  me  so  conclu- 
sively, that,  by  comparison,  all  other  demonstrations 
seem  dull."^ 

ST.    PETER 

"The  Old  and.  the  New  which  are  so  conclusive 
to  you — why  do  you  accept  them  as  the  word  of 
God?" 

DANTE 

"The  proofs  which  disclose  their  authenticity  to 
me  are  the  miracles  that  followed  the  Word,  for 
which  nature  neither  heated  iron,  nor  struck  anvil." 

ST.    PETER 

"Speak,  what  assurance  have  you  that  these  mira- 
cles really  were  performed?    The  very  thing  which 

V    *  The  inspiration  made  manifest  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. 


DANTE  339 

requires  to  be  proved,  and  none  other,  testifies  to 
you  in  its  own  behalf." 

DANTE 

"If  the  world  were  converted  to  Christianity 
without  miracles,  this  is  itself  so  great  a  miracle, 
that  the  others  are  not  a  hundredth  part  so  strange ; 
for,  poor  and  hungry,  you  entered  the  field  to  sow 
the  good  plant  which,  once  was  a  vine,  and  is  now 
degenerated  to  a  bramble." 

This  being  ended,  the  high  and  holy  court  re- 
sounded through  the  spheres  a  **\Ve  Praise  Thee,  O 
God,"  in  the  melody  such  as  is  sung  only  up  there. 

CANTO   XXV 

These  twelve  opening  "lines  of  infinite  pathos 
and  beauty,"  as  W.  W.  Vernon  describes  them,  are 
an  utterance,  almost  a  w^ail,  on  Dante's  part,  be- 
fore his  examination  on  Hope  begins, — his  own  su- 
preme hope  and  wish  in  this  world  having  been  re- 
call from  banishment,  and  the  recognition  of  his 
poetic  greatness  by  Florence.  The  translation  i? 
Longfellow's : 

If  e'er  it  happen  that  the  Poem  Sacred, 
To  which  both  heaven  and  earth  have  set  their  hand. 
So  that  it  many  a  year  hath  made  me  lean, 

O'ercome  the  cruelty  that  bars  me  out 
From  the  fair  sheepfold,  where  a  lamb  I  slumbered. 
An  enemy  to  the  wolves  that  war  upon  it, 


340  DANTE 

With  other  voice  forthwith,  with  other  fleece 
Poet  will  I  return,  and  at  my  font 
Baptismal  will  I  take  the  laurel  crown; 

Because  into  the  Faith  that  maketh  known 
All  souls  to  God  tliere  entered  1,  and  then 
Peter  for  her  sake  thus  my  brow  encircled. 

,The  light  that  is  St.  James,  now  disengages  itself 
from  the  others,  and  comes  forward,  and  speaks. 

ST.  James 

"Since  our  Sovereign  Emperor  wills,  with  infinite 
grace  that,  while  yet  in  the  flesh,  you  shall  come 
face  to  face  with  His  saints,  in  His  most  secret  coun- 
cil-chamber, in  order  that,  having  once  seen  the 
truth  of  this  court,  you  may  thereby  confirm  in 
yourself  and  others  that  Hope  which  on  Earth 
rightly  makes  men  fall  in  love  with  it, — say,  what 
it  is,  and  why  it  abounds  in  your  mind,  and  also  tell 
me  whence  it  came  to  you?" 

Beatrice,  fearful  that  the  answer  to  the  second 
(question  may  embarrass  Dante,  replies  to  it  herself, 
the  answer  involving  self-praise. 

BEATRICE 

"The  Church  militant  has  no  child  more  hopeful ; 
therefore  was  it  granted  unto  him  to  come  up  to 
Jerusalem  out  of  Egypt,^  and  to  see,  before  the  days 
of  his  mortal  strife  are  ended." 


'  From  Earth  to  Heaven. 


DANTE  341 

Beatrice  now  adds  that  Dante  may  answer  the 
other  question  for  himself. 

DANTE 

"Hope  is  the  sure  expectation  of  glory  to  come, 
the  effect  of  divine  grace,  and  preceding  merit. 
This  light  comes  to  me  from  many  stars,^  but  he 
first  instilled  it  into  me  who  was  the  supreme  singer 
of  the  Supreme  Leader.'  *Let  them  hope  in  Thee 
who  know  Thy  name,*  he  sings  in  his  noble  Psalms ; 
and  who  does  not  know  it,  if  he  has  my  faith ?  And 
later,  you,  in  your  Epistle  did  imbue  me  with  that 
which  he  had  instilled,  so  that  I  am  running  over 
with  it,  and,  upon  others  in  turn  I  shower  your 
rain.' 


>»* 


ST.  James 

"That  love,  with  which  I  still  yearn  for  the  vir- 
tue" which  followed  me  even  to  martyrdom,  and  to 
my  issuance  from  mortal  strife,"  wills  that  I  speak 
again  to  you,  who  take  such  delight  in  it.  I  would 
have  you  tell  me  what  it  is  that  Hope  promises  you  ?" 

"  "And  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the 
firmament;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  as  the 
stars  forever  and  ever."    Dan.  xii  :3. 

•  David. 
*Hope. 
•Hope. 

•  Death  freed  him  from  the  battle  of  life. 


34^  DANTE 

PANTE  . 

"The  New  and  the  Old  Scriptures  establlshi  the 
goal/  and  that  means  Hope.  Of  the  souls  whom 
God  has  made  His  friends,  Isaiah  says,  that  in  his 
true  home^  every  one  shall  be  robed  in  a  double  ves- 
ture, and  his  true  home  is  this  blessed  place.  And 
more  explicitly  yet,  does  your  brother  make  mani- 
fest to  us  this  same  revelation,  in  that  passage  yvhere 
he  treats  of  the  white  robes."' 

Immediately,  these  words  had  been  spoken,  "Spe^ 
rent  in  tef'^^  resounded  overhead,  to  jvhich  all  the 
choirs  made  answer. 

;CANTO  XXVI 

St.  John,  whose  radiance  has  dazzled  Dante  to 
the  point  of  blindness,  now  proceeds  with  his  ex- 
amination. He  first  asks  Dante  what  led  him  to 
desire  Divine  Love.  Dante  replies  that  God  is  the 
beginning  and  end  of  all  love,  and  that  he  knows 
this  by  the  aid  of  philosophy  and  divinely  revealed 
authority.    Dante  says : 

"The  voice  of  God  makes  it  plain,  Who,  speaking 
of  Himself,  said  to  Moses.:  *I  will  make  thee  see  all 


'  Paradise,  and  the  bliss  thereof. 
'  Paradise.    Isaiah  Ixi  :7. 

"  St.  John  in  the  Apocalypse,  Revelation  vii  :9-17. 
""£/  sperent  in  te,  qui  noverunt  nomen  tuum," — "They  that 
know  thy  name  will  put  their  trust  in  thee." 


PANTE3  343 

goodness.'*  You  also  make  it  plain,  at  the  beginning 
of  that  sublime  announcement^  which,  in  the  world, 
proclaims  the  mystery  of  Heaven  louder  and  more 
clearly  than  all  other  proclamations." 

And  I  heard : 

"With  the  help  of  human  intellect,  and  concord- 
ant authority  of  Scripture,  your  sovereign  love  is 
centered  on  God ;  but  say  further,  do  you  feel  other 
cords  draw  you  to  Him,  so  that  you  can  tell  by  how 
many  reasons  this  love  holds  you." 

DANTE 

"All  those  incentives,  which  can  jdraw  the  heart 
to  God,  have  had  a  part  in  my  love;  for  the  exist- 
ence of  the  world,  and  my  own  being,  the  death 
which  He  suffered  that  I  may  live,  and  that  which 
all  the  faithful  hope,  as  I  do,  together  with  the  al- 
ready-mentioned vital  consciousness,  (that  God  is 
the  supreme  good  and  hence  the  supreme  object  of 
love),- — all  these  incentives  have  drawn  me  forth 
from  the  sea  of  perverted  love,  and  set  me  on  the 
shore  of  the  true.  The  leaves,  wherewitH  tlie  entire 
garden"  of  the  Eternal  giardener  is  made  green,  I 

*  Exodus  xxxiii  :19. 

"It  is  not  clear  precisely  what  line  of  Revelation  is  here 
meant,  but  probably,  "I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning 
and  the  ending,  saith  the  Lord,  which  is,  and  which  was,  and 
which  is  to  come,  the  Almighty." 
^  "The  world. 


344  DANTE 

love  in  proportion  to  the  perfection  He  has  bestowed 
on  each." 

As  soon  as  I  was  silent  a  chant  of  indescribable 
sweetness  reverberated  through  the  Heavens,  and 
my  lady,  with  the  others  sang:  "Holy,  Holy, 
Holy." 

Dante  now  asks  Beatrice  about  a  new  light,  and 
she  answers : 

"Within  those  beams  the  first  soul*  which  God 
created  is  gazing  with  joy  upon  its  Maker." 

Dante,  tremendously  moved  by  the  presence  of 
Adam,  begs  him  to  speak,  and  Adam  says : 

"You  wish  to  hear  how  long  it  is  since  God  placed 
me  in  the  lofty  Eden  garden,  where  this  lady^  pre- 
pared you  for  the  tremendous  ascent,  and  for  how 
long  a  time  I  rejoiced  in  the  garden,  and  the  true 
cause  of  the  great  wrath,  and  what  language  I  used 
and  originated.  My  son,  the  tasting  of  the  tree  was 
not  in  itself  the  reason  of  so  great  a  banishment,  but 
only  the  disobedience.  In  that  place,®  which  your 
lady  besought  Virgil  to  leave,  I  longed  for  the  con- 
gregation of  the  Blest  while  the  Sun  completed  four 
thousand  three  hundred  and  two  revolutions;^  and 


*  Adam. 

"  Beatrice. 

'  Limbo. 

'  Years  measured  by  the  sun's  revolution. 


DANTE  345 

while  I  dwelt  upon  the  Earth  I  saw  him'  return  to  the 
lamps  of  his  pathway,®  nine  hundred  and  thirty  times. 
The  language  which  I  spoke  was  wholly  extinct  long 
before  the  race  of  Nimrod  attempted  the  impossible 
task,  for -no  product  of  human  reason  can  last  for- 
ever because  human  likings  vary  under  the  influence 
of  the  stars/®  It  is  a  natural  thing  for  man  to  speak, 
but  the  manner  of  his  speech  nature  leaves  wholly 
to  his  own  pleasure.  Before  I  went  down  to  the 
misery  of  Hell,  the  Supreme  God,  from  whom  issues 
the  joyous  light  which  clothes  me,  was  on  Earth 
called  I ;  later  He  was  called  El ;  and  this  is  natural, 
for  the  custom  of  mortals  is  like  the  leaf  on  a 
branch  which  goes  away  and  another  comes.  On 
the  mountain,**  which  rises  highest  from  the  waves, 
I  lived  my  life  of  innocence  and  guilt,  from  the  first 
hour  to  the  sixth,  when  the  sun  changes  quadrant." 

CANTO  XXVII 

"To  the  Father,  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  all  Paradise  began  to  chant  so  sweetly  that 

•  The  sun. 

•The  signs  of  the  Zodiac. 

"Human  speech,  the  product  of  human  reason,  changes 
with  the  alteration  of  human  incHnations,  which  inclinations 
were,  according  to  thirteenth-century  belief,  influenced  by  the 
stars. 

"Adam  dwelt  in  the  Earthly  Paradise,  i.  e.,  on  the  summit 
of  the  mount  of  Purgatory,  a  little  more  than  six  hours.  The 
sun  changing  quadrant  means  completing  a  quarter  of  his 
circle ;  a  quarter  of  the  day,  which  is  six  hours. 


346  DANTE 

I  became  infatuated.  That  which  my  eyes  saw, 
appeared  to  me  to  be  a  smile  of  the  universe.  My 
infatuation  poured  in  upon  me  through  both  eyes 
and  ears.  O  rapture !  O  unutterable  bliss !  O  per- 
fect life  of  love  and  peace!  Riches  secure,  with 
nothing  left  to  long  for ! 

The  four  lights  which  are  Peter,  James,  John  and 
Adam,  Dante  sees  blaze  on,  and  one  of  them,  Peter, 
increase  his  brightness  and  turn  crimson. 

When  silence,  by  God's  will,  had  fallen  on  the 
blessed  choir,  I  heard : 

"If  I  change  color,  marvel  not;  for  while  I  speak* 
you  shall  see  all  these  likewise  change  color.  He 
who  on  Earth  usurps  my  place,  my  place,  my  place, 
which,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  vacant,  has 
made  my  tomb  a  sewer  of  blood  and  filth,  because 
of  which,  down  there,  the  Evil  One,  who  fell  from 
here,  is  pleased." 

Dante  says  that  he  then  saw  all  Paradise  grow 
fiery  red,  and  Beatrice  blush  with  indignation. 

Just  such  a  change,  I  deem,  took  place  in  Heaven 
when  Almighty  God  was  crucified. 


*  St.  Peter  is   speaking  of  the   Papacy,   and  his  own  suc- 
cessors. 


DANTE  347 

St.  Peter  continues,  in  a  voice  as  much  unlike  his 
usual  voice,  as  his  countenance  is  changed  from  its 
wonted  appearance : 

"The  Bride  of  Christ^  was  not  nourished  with 
my  blood,  and  that  of  Linus,  and  of  Cletus,  to  be 
used  for  the  sake  of  gaining  gold;  but  to  make  sure 
of  this  happy  existence  did  Sixtus,  and  Pius,  and 
Calixtus,  and  Urban,  shed  their  blood  after  much 
weeping.'  It  was  not  our  intention  that  a  part  of 
the  people  should  sit  at  the  right  hand,  and  another 
part  at  the  left,  of  our  successors;  nor  that  the  keys, 
which  were  entrusted  to  me,  should  become  the  em- 
blem on  a  banner  carried  in  war  against  Christians  ;* 
nor  that  I  myself  should  be  made  the  figure  on  a 
seal  to  venal  and  false  privileges,  because  of  which 
I  often  turn  scarlet  and  flash  with  anger.  From 
here  on  high,  ravenous  wolves,  clad  as  shepherds, 
are  to  be  seen  in  every  pasture.  O  defense  of  God, 
why  do  you  still  slumber  I  To  drink  our  blood  the 
Cahorsines  and  the  Gascons'*  are  making  ready.  O 
good  beginning,  to  what  a  vile  end  must  you  go 
down!  But  I  am  sure  that  the  high  Providence 
which  at  Rome,  with  Scipio,  defended  the  glory  of 


'  The  Church. 

"All  Bishops  of  Rome  who  suffered  martyrdom. 

*  Boniface  VIII,  fighting  the  Calona  family,  is  here  referred 
to.    See  Inf.  XXVII. 

•St.  Peter  sees  a  native  of  Cahors  (Pope  John  XXII)  and 
one  of  Gascony  (Pope  Clement  V)  preparing  to  enrich  them- 
selves at  the  cost  of  the  Church. 


348  DANTE 

the  world,  will  soon  bring  succor.  And  you,  my 
son,  who  because  of  your  mortality,  will  again  re- 
turn to  Earth,  speak  out ;  hide  nothing  of  that  which 
I  have  declared." 

CANTO  XXVIII 

In  this  canto  Dante  enters  the  Crystalline  Heaven 
of  the  ninth  sphere,  and  sees  and  learns  about  the 
heavenly  hierarchies.  As  he  listens  to  the  discourse 
of  Beatrice  he  suddenly  becomes  aware,  gazing  into 
her  eyes,  of  the  reflection  of  a  thing  which  he  had 
neither  seen  nor  thought  of  before. 

I  saw  a  Point^  whence  radiated  a  light  so  incan- 
descent that  whatever  eye  it  strikes  upon  must  needs 
close  instantly.  Whatever  star  looks  smallest  from 
the  Earth  would,  by  comparison,  seem  a  moon.  At 
about  the  same  distance  as  the  circle  appears  which 
girdles  the  light  from  which  it  gets  its  color,  when 
mist  is  densest,  a  flaming  ring  about  this  Point  was 
whirling. 

So  rapid  was  its  motion  that  it  would  have  sur- 
passed the  sphere  which  moves  most  swi  ftly  around 
the  world;*  and  this  was  encircled  by  another,  and 
that  by  a  third,  and  the  third  by  a  fourth,  the  fourth 
by  a  fifth,  and  the  fifth  by  a  sixth.    Then  came  the 

*The  Glory  of  God.  Since  a  point  is  indivisible,  this  point 
of  ineffable  glory  is  an  adequate  symbol  of  the  Unity  of  the 
Godhead. 

*  Primum  Mobile. 


DANTE  349 

seventh,  and  it  was  of  such  a  vast  span  that,  were 
the  messenger  of  Juno^  made  entire,  it  would  be 
too  narrow  to  contain  this  seventh  circle.  In  like 
fashion  followed  the  eighth,  and  the  ninth.  Each 
revolved  with  slower  motion  according  as  it  was 
more  distant  from  the  Point.  The  circle  nearest 
to  that  Pure  Spark  had  the  clearest  light ;  I  believe, 
because  it  most  partakes  of  Its  truth. 

My  lady,  who  saw  how  greatly  I  was  perplexed,* 
said: 

"On  that  Point,  the  Heavens,  and  all  nature,  de- 
pend. Observe  the  circle  which  is  nearest,  and  know 
that  its  motion  is  so  swift  because  of  the  burning 
love  which  spurs  it  on." 

Beatrice  now  discourses  to  Dante  on  how  it  comes 
about  that  this  smallest,  and  swiftest,  of  the  circles 
of  the  hierarchy,  should  govern  the  outermost  and 
largest  of  the  nine  spheres  which  revolve  about  the 
Earth.  The  idea  is,  that  God  can  be  conceived  of 
as  the  Point,  and  as  such,  lacking  all  spacial  dimen- 
sions, at  the  center  of  the  universe,  and  also  as 
that  which  contains  the  entire  universe.  Hence  the 
circle  nearest  Him  is  most  like  Him,  and  the  sphere 
which  is  greatest,  as  containing  all  the  others,  is  also 
most  like  Him.    It  follows  then  that  the  two  most 


•  Iris,  the  rainbow,  the  arc  of  which,  completed,  would  form 
a  circle. 

*How  much  he  wanted  to  know  more  of  that  at  which  he 
was  looking. 


350  DANTE 

alike  should  be  closest  connected,  as  is  the  case, 
Beatrice  tells  Dante,  between  the  smallest  circle  and 
the  largest  sphere. 

And  when  she  ceased  speaking  the  circles  threw 
out  sparks  as  does  molten  iron.  Every  spark  danced 
within  the  ring  of  its  own  fire,  and  the  number  of 
them  was  exceeding  great.  And  I  heard  "Hosan- 
nah,"  echoing  from  choir  to  choir,  in  praise  of  that 
fixed  Point  which  sustains  them,  and  will  eternally 
sustain  them,  in  the  appointed  place  where  they  have 
been  forever. 

CANTO  XXIX 

In  the  first  part  of  this  canto  Beatrice  speaks  of 
the  creation  and  nature  of  Angels.  The  passage  is 
both  difficult  and  beautiful.  In  the  second,  she  repri- 
mands the  clergy,  and  says  much  about  the  preach- 
ing that  is  being  spread  far  and  wide. 

BEATRICE 

"On  Earth  men  dream  when  not  asleep,  some  be- 
lieving, and  others  not  believing,  what  they  say  to 
be  the  truth,  but  of  the  two  these  last  are  more  to 
blame  and  shameful.  You  mortals  cling  to  no  sin- 
gle philosophy,  so  much  do  you  love  to  make  dis- 
play of  learning,  and  so  carried  away  are  you  by  the 
thought  of  it.    But  this  reaps  less  indignation  here 


DANTE  351 

on  high  than  the  setting  aside,  or  the  perversion  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  Men  forget  how  much  blood 
it  costs  to  spread  knowledge  of  them  in  the  world, 
or  how  greatly,  he  who  conforms  to  them,  pleases 
God.  Every  one  strives  to  advertise  himself,  and 
creates  fancies  of  his  own.  The  preachers  take 
these  to  preach  on,  and  pass  by  the  Gospel  in  silence. 
One  says  that  the  moon  turned  backward  at  the  time 
of  Christ's  Passion,  and  interposed  herself  so  that 
the  sun's  light  was  cut  off  from  the  Earth;  others 
say  that  the  light  voluntarily  ceased  shining  and  so 
the  eclipse  covered  the  Spaniards  and  the  Indians 
as  well  as  the  Jews.*  Florence  contains  not  so  many 
Lapi  and  Bindi''  as  is  the  number  of  such  fables 
shouted,  year  by  year,  from  the  pulpits  on  every 
side,  so  that  the  unhappy  sheep  return  from  their 
pasturage  fed  with  wind ;  and  not  seeing  the  harm, 
is  no  excuse.  Christ  did  not  say  to  His  first  con- 
gregation;' *Go  forth,  and  preach  idle  tales  to  the 
world,*  but  He  laid  bare  for  them  the  foundation 
of  truth.  It  was  this  alone  that  sounded  from  theii* 
mouths.  The  Gospel  alone,  was  shield  and  lance 
for  them  in  their  struggle  to  kindle  Faith.  Now 
men  go  forth  to  preach,  with  jests  and  buffooneries, 


*  Reached  from  India  to  Spain ;  east  to  west  over  the  whole 
Earth,  is  the  meaning. 

*  Nicknames  as  common  in  Florence  then  as  Dick  and  Jack 
are  with  us  to-day. 

*  The  apostles. 


352  DANTE 

and  if  they  can  but  get  a  laugh  the  cowl*  grows 
proud,  and  nothing  more  is  asked.  But  in  the  folds 
of  that  hood  a  bird  of  such  ill-omen"  has  built  its 
nest,  that,  should  the  multitude  see  it,  they  would 
understand  the  sort  of  pardon  they  were  trusting 
to." 

CANTO  XXX 

In  this  canto  Dante  actually  ascends  to  the  Em- 
pyrean and  beholds  the  entire  glory  of  Paradise. 
Turning  his  eyes  to  Beatrice,  they  are  still  in  the 
ninth  sphere,  he  bursts  forth  about  her  once  more, 
declaring  that : 

If  all  that  has,  up  to  now,  been  said  of  her  could 
be  gathered  into  a  single  eulogy,  it  would  fall  short 
indeed  for  the  present  purpose.  The  beauty  which 
I  beheld  so  transcends  all  human  beauty  that  I  be- 
lieve its  Maker  can  alone  enjoy  it  to  the  full. 

From  the  day  that  I  first  saw  her  face  on  Earth, 
until  this  sight  of  her  in  Paradise,  the  power  to 
follow,  with  descriptive  words,  has  never  failed  me, 

*Tlie  wearer  of  a  cowl,  the  preacher.    In  Cowper's  Task, 
the  poet,  speaking  on  this  same  subject,  says: 

"'Tis  pitiful 
To  court  a  grin,  when  you  should  _woo  a  soul ; 
To  break  a  jest,  when  pity  would  inspire 
Pathetic  exhortation  ;  and  t'  address 
The  skittish  fancy  with  facetious  tales. 
When  sent  with  God's  commission  to  the  heart !" 

*  The  devil,  in  monks*  clothing,  is  what  the  passage  refers  to. 


DANTE  353 

but  from  now  on  my  power  must  relinquish  all  fur- 
ther attempt  to  set  forth  her  loveliness  in  verse,  for 
no  artist  can  surpass  his  utmost. 

Such,  I  leave  her  to  a  loftier  heralding  than  that 
of  my  trumpet,  which  is  bringing  its  great  theme 
to  a  close.  With  the  gesture,  and  the  tone  of  one 
who  is  a  leader,  she  said : 

"We  have  come  forth  from  the  greatest  of  the 
spheres  into  that  Heaven  which  is  pure  light ;  light 
intellectual  o'erflowing  with  love;  love  of  true  good 
o'erflowing  with  joy;  joy  which  exceeds  all  sweet- 
ness. Here  you  shall  see  both  of  the  armies  of 
Paradise.* 

Indescribable  light  now  blazes  forth  in  all  direc- 
tions; Beatrice  explains,  saying: 

"That  Love  which  bestows  tranquillity  upon  this 
Heaven,  with  such  a  salutation  always  gives  wel- 
come unto  Itself." 

No  sooner  had  these  few  words  come  to  me  than 
I  realized  that  I  was  rising  above  myself.^  I  saw  a 
river  of  light,  all  shimmer  and  sparkle,  flowing  be- 
tween banks  that  bloomed  with  marvelous  spring. 
Forth  from  that  river  rose  living  sparks  which 
found  their  resting  place  in  the  flowers  that  were 

*The  Anprels,  and  the  Saints;  "the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect."  The  former  made  war  against  the  rebel  angels,  and 
the  latter  against  sin. 

*  Above  his  own  faculties. 


354  DANTE 

everywhere,  even  as  rubies  set  in  gold.  Then,  as  if 
intoxicated  by  the  perfumes,  they  plunged  once  more 
into  that  wondrous  stream  and  as  one  went  down 
another  came  up. 

Beatrice,  whom  Dante  at  this  point  calls  "Sun  of 
my  eyes,"  says : 

**The  river,  and  the  topazes  that  enter  and  come 
out,  and  all  the  smiling  flowers,  are  but  foreshad- 
owings  of  the  truth,  not  that  in  themselves  they  are 
imperfect,  but  that  your  vision  is  not  yet  so  high  ex- 
alted." 

And  I  saw  both  the  Courts  of  Heaven.* 

O  splendor  of  God,  through  which  I  beheld  the 
consummate  triumph  of  the  realm  of  truth,  now 
grant  me  strength  to  tell  how  I  saw  it ! 

There  is  light  on  high  which  makes  the  Creator 
visible  to  that  creature  which  finds  its  peace  only 
in  contemplating  Him.  The  circumference  of  that 
light  extends  so  far  that  its  circle  would  be  too 
great  a  girdle  for  the  sun.  As  a  hillside  is  reflected 
by  water  at  its  foot,  as  if  to  admire  itself,  when 
richly  decked  with  leaves  and  flowers,  so,  above  the 
light,  circling  and  rising,  on  more  than  a  thousand 
seats,  I  saw  mirrored  all  those  of  us  who  have  re- 
turned on  high.* 


•Angels  and  Saints. 

*  The  number  of  mankind  who,  up  to  that  time,  had  reached 
Heaven. 


DANTE  355 

To  the  heart  of  the  eternal  and  everlasting  rose, 
which  opens  wide,  and  rises  in  tiers,  and  exhales 
the  odor  of  praise,  unto  the  Sun  that  there  keeps 
undying  spring,  Beatrice,  like  one  who  is  silent  and 
yet  would  speak,  led  me,  and  said ; 

"Behold  how  vast  is  the  congregation  of  the  white 
robes P  Look  on  our  city,  how  broad  its  circuit! 
Behold  our  seats  so  well  filled  that  small  is  the  num- 
ber of  them  for  whom  the  empty  benches  wait  1" 

CANTO  XXXI 

Then  was  shown  to  me,  in  the  form  of  a  pure 
white  rose,  that  blessed  host  which  Christ,  in  His 
own  blood,  made  bride.  The  other  host^  which, 
always  on  wing,  beholds  and  sings  the  glory  of  Him 
who  enamors  it,  and  the  goodness  of  Him  who 
has  made  it  so  glorious,  like  bees,  which  now  go 
down  into  blossoms,  and  again  return  to  the  hive, 
descended  into  that  vast  and  many-petaled  flower, 
and  thence  remounted  up  to  where  their  love  for- 
ever sits  enthroned.  The  faces  of  all  were  living 
flame,  and  their  wings  were  gold,  and  the  rest  w^as 
of  such  exceeding  whiteness  as  never  snow  attained. 
When  they  went  down  into  the  flower,  rank  after 
rank,  they  bestowed  on  it  some  of  the  peace  and 

•  'He  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed  in  white 
raiment."    Rev.  iii  :5. 

*  The  Saints,  forever  quiet  upon  their  thrones :  the  Angels, 
in  everlasting  flight 


356  DANTE 

ardor  which  they  had  acquired  in  their  flying.  Nor 
did  this  host,  so  numerous,  winging  its  course  be- 
tween the  flower  and  that  which  was  on  high,^  ob- 
struct the  vision  or  the  splendor,  for  the  hght  of 
God  penetrates  the  whole  universe,  according  to  its 
merit,  so  that  nothing  can  impede  it.  This  safe  and 
happy  kingdom,  thronged  with  people  of  ancient  and 
of  modern  time,*  fixed  its  whole  gaze,  and  all  its 
love,  upon  one  sole  point. 

O  Threefold  Light  which  in  a  single  star,  blazing 
on  their  sight,  so  satisfies  them,  deign  to  look  down 
upon  our  tempest  here  below ! 

If  the  Barbarians,  coming  from  the  far  north, 
were  struck  dumb  with  wonder  at  the  sight  of  Rome 
and  her  mighty  works — at  the  time  when  the  Lat- 
eran  towered  above  everything  mortal* — with  what 
astonishment  must  I  have  been  filled,  who  had  come 
from  things  human  to  things  heavenly;  from  the 
temporal  to  the  eternal ;  from  Florence  to  folk  just 
and  sane !"  Truly,  this,®  together  with  my  ecstasy, 
made  it  a  pleasure  to  hear  nothing,  and  to  remain 
silent.  As  a  pilgrim,  refreshed  by  gazing  about  the 
temple  of  his  vow,  even  then  hoping  some  day  to 


■The  throne  of  God. 

•  The  Old  and  the  New  Testament. 

*The  Lateran  was  the  seat  of  papal  or  imperial  power  at 
the  time  when  Rome  was  mistress  of  the  world. 

•  W.  W.  Vernon  quotes  Doctor  Moore  as  saying :  "I  always 
think  that  putting  Florence  as  the  climax  to  the  other  two  is 
one  of  the  most  intensely  bitter  things  Dante  ever  wrote." 

•  Amazement. 


DANTE  357 

tell  others  how  it  looks,  such  was  I  as  I  traversed 
the  living  light,  my  eyes  wandering  over  the  ranks, 
now  up,  now  down,  now  sidewise.  I  saw  faces 
that  would  move  one  to  love,  made  beautiful  by 
God's  light  and  their  own  smile,  and  actions  graced 
with  every  dignity. 

My  glance  had  by  this  time  compassed  the  look 
of  Paradise  as  a  whole,  but  on  no  single  part  had 
my  eyes  as  yet  been  riveted.  With  renewed  zeal 
I  turned  to  ask  my  lady  about  matters  which  were 
still  doubtful  in  my  mind.  I  intended  one  thing, 
and  another  answered  me.  I  thought  to  see  Beatrice, 
and  behold,  an  old  man,^  robed  like  the  heavenly 
host !  His  eyes  and  cheeks  glowed  with  kindly  joy ; 
his  bearing,  with  such  gentleness  as  becomes  an  af- 
fectionate father. 

Exclaiming:  "Where  is  she?"  he  replied: 

"To  satisfy  your  longings,  Beatrice  induced  me 
to  leave  my  own  place.  If  you  will  but  look  up  to 
the  third  circle  below  the  highest,  you  will  again  see 
her,  and  upon  the  throne  which  her  deserts  merit." 

Without  answering,  I  lifted  my  eyes,  and  saw; 
her,  crowned  with  the  eternal  rays  which  were  re- 
flected by  her.  From  the  highest  region,  where  the 
thunder  sounds,  to  the  lowest  depths  of  ocean  that 
mortal  eye  can  penetrate,  is  not  so  far  as,  In  that 
place,  Beatrice  was  raised  above  my  sight.    But  this 


*The  old  man  is  St  Bernard. 


358  DANTE 

mattered  not  to  me,  for  her  image  came  down  im- 
dimmed  by  intervening  distance. 

"O  Lady,  in  whom  my  hope  is  strong,  iand  who, 
for  my  salvation,  did  endure  leaving  your  footprints 
in  Hell,  I  now  acknowledge  the  grace  and  virtue  of 
all  those  things,  which,  through  your  power  and 
your  goodness,  I  have  seen.  By  all  the  ways,  by 
all  the  means®  within  your  power,  you  have  brought 
me  from  slavery  to  freedom.  Preserve  in  me  your 
own  magnificence  so  that  my  soul,  which  you  have 
made  whole,  may,  when  it  shall  leave  the  flesh,  be 
pleasing  to  you  still." 

Such  prayer  I  made;  and  she,  it  seemed  so  far 
iaway,  smiled  and  looked  at  me ;  then  turned  to  the 
Eternal  Fountain. 

And  the  holy  old  man  said : 

**In  order  that  you  may  iaccomplisK  the  ientire 
journey,  for  the  sake  of  which  prayer  and  sacred 
love  sent  me  to  you,  let  your  eyes  range®  fully  about 
this  garden;  for  looking  at  it  will  prepare  your 
vision  to  rise  still  higher  by  the  help  of  God's  own 
light.  And  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  for  whom  I  am 
>vholly  consumed  with  love,  will  grant  us  every  fa- 
yor  because  I  am  her  faithful  Bernard." 

St.  Bernard  now;  begins  to  prepare  Dante  for  the: 


"  Prayers  and  love  of  Beatrice. 

"  Look  at  the  Saints  and  Angels  which  make  up  the  garden 
of  Paradise. 


DANTE  359! 

final  consummation  of  his  vision.  He  must  prepare 
himself  gradually  to  behold  the  Divine  Essence,  by 
disciphning  his  sight,  first  to  contemplate  the  glory 
of  the  Saints,  and  then,  above  all,  that  of  Mary,  "the 
Queen,  to  whom  this  Kingdom  is  subject  and  de- 
voted." As  a  matter  of  fact  all  this  part  of  the 
poem  is  steeped  in  the  spirit  of  Mary's  "Faithful 
Bernard,"  who,  in  one  of  his  sermons,  calls  her 
the  Sinner's  Ladder,  "whose  top  passes  through  the 
Heavens,  until  it  reaches  the  well  of  living  waters 
which  are  above  the  Heavens." 

Then  follows  St.  Bernard's  first  brief  address  to 
Dante  about  the  Virgin,  and  this,  by  Dante's  brief 
account  of  what  he  saw;  a  thing  analogous  to  a 
passage  of  color  in  Fra  Angelico's  Coronation  of 
the  Virgin,  translated,  as  far  as  may  be,  into  words : 
a  passage  from  Dante  rendered,  as  far  as  may  be, 
which  is  unbelievably  far,  into  form  and  color  by 
Fra  Angelico.  About  the  works  of  each,  Dante  and 
Fra  Angelico,  it  matters  not  that  more  than  fifty 
years  intervened  between  the  death  of  the  former 
and  the  birth  of  the  latter,  there  is  the  attribute 
of  heavenly  exquisiteness,  which  must  be  seen  and 
felt  to  be  understood;  one  of  the  most  fascinating 
and  peculiar  attributes  of  Italy's  greatest  time;  at- 
tribute which,  upon  the  undying  and  always  trou- 
bled present,  descends  like  a  continual  benediction 
of  faith  and  rest. 


360  DANTE 

ST.    BERNARD 

"Son  of  Grace,  this  glad  life  will  never  be  known 
to  you  so  long  as  you  fix  your  eyes  only  upon  its 
lowest  grades,  but  lift  them  through  all  the  circles, 
even  to  the  uttermost,  until,  upon  her  throne,  you 
shall  behold  the  Queen  to  whom  this  kingdom  is 
subject  and  devoted." 

I  lifted  up  my  eyes ;  and  as  at  morning  the  eastern 
horizon  is  more  beautiful  than  that  to  which  the 
sun  sinks,  my  gaze,  climbing  from  valley-bottom  to 
mountain-top,  came  finally  to  a  place  in  the  extreme 
distance  that  outshone  all  others.  And  as  the  glow 
is  brightest  in  the  east  where  the  sun  is  expected, 
and  to  right  and  left  the  light  fades  away,  so  did 
that  Oriflamme  of  Peace^^seem  vividest  at  the  center 
and  to  pale  away  on  every  side.  In  that  midmost 
center  I  saw  more  than  a  thousand  jubilant  Angels 
with  wings  outstretched,  every  one  differing  from 
all  the  others  in  brightness  and  in  joy.  And  there  I 
saw  the  Blessed  Virgin  smiling  upon  their  ecstasies 
and  songs,  a  Beauty  which  was  a  joy  in  the  eyes  of 
all  the  other  Saints.  Had  I  power  of  speech  equal 
to  imagination,  I  should  not  dare  attempt  the  least 
of  her  enchantment. 


"  Golden  flame,  meaning  the  Virgin. 


DANTE  361 

CANTO  xxxn 

All  absorbed  in  his  delight,  that  soul  of  contem- 
plation* willingly  became  my  mentor,  speaking  these 
holy  words : 

"The  wound  which  Mary  healed  and  anointed, 
was  first  inflicted  by  her,^  who  is  so  beautiful  at 
Mary's  feet.  Below,  in  the  rank  formed  by  the  third 
range  of  seats,  sits  Rachel  with  Beatrice,  as  you  see. 
Sarah,  Rebecca,  Judith,  and  she  who  was  great- 
grandmother  of  the  singer'  who,  in  sorrow  for  his 
sin,  cried,  "Have  mercy  upon  me,"*  you  may  look 
on  in  descending  order,  as  I  go  downward  through 
the  rose,  petal  by  petal,  name  by  name.  Below  the 
seventh  range,  as  above,  from  the  first  to  the  sev- 
enth, there  is  a  succession  of  Hebrew  women.  They 
separate  the  leaves  of  the  flower.  They  make  the 
partition  by  which  the  sacred  terraces  of  the  rose 
are  divided  in  accord  with  the  view  of  Christ  which 
their  faith  held.  On  this  side  where  tlie  flower  is- 
full  blown,  and  every  leaf  is  occupied,  are  those  who 
believed  in  a  Christ  yet  to  come.  On  the  other  side, 
where  the  semicircles  are  broken  by  empty  places, 
sit  those  who  believed  in  Christ  already  come.  As 
on  this  side,  the  glorious  throne  of  the  Queen  of 
Heaven  and  the  others  below  her,  make  so  clear  a 


*  St.  Bernard,  whose  delight  is  in  contemplating  the  Virgin. 
■  Eve. 

*  Ruth  was  David's  great-grandmother. 

*  Psalm  li:l. 


362  DANTE 

division,  so,  opposite,  does  the  seat  of  the  great 
John,  who,  ever  holy,  endured  the  wilderness  and 
martyrdom,  and  after  these,  for  two  years.  Hell; 
beneath  him,  Francis,  Benedict,  Augustine  and  oth- 
ers are  appointed  for  the  division  line,  circle  upon 
circle,  down  even  to  where  we  are.  Consider  the 
profound  foresight  of  God,  for  one  and  the  other 
view  of  faith"  will  help  to  fill  this  garden  equally. 
And  know,  too,  that  below  the  range  which  midway 
cuts  these  two  upright  dividing  lines,  sit  those  who 
are  here  because  of  Another's  merit,  and  not  for 
their  own.  All  these  are  spirits  that  were  set  free 
from  the  body  before  they  had  come  to  the  age  of 
discretion.®  You  can  know  it  by  their  faces,  and 
their  childish  voices,  if  you  look  at  them  and  listen 
to  them." 

A  little  further  on  St.  Bernard  again  speaks. 

**Look  now  upon  the  face  which  is  most  like 
Christ's,  for  its  bright  radiance  alone  can  prepare 
you  to  behold  Christ." 

I  saw  such  a  rain  of  gladness  pouring  down  upon 
her,  gladness  that  had  its  source  among  the  blessed 
angels  created  to  wheel  and  circle  in  the  depth  above 
her,  that,  all  together,  what  I  had  seen  before  less 
amazed  me,  nor  showed  me  anything  so  nearly  like 
to  God.    And  that  Angel  which  long  ago  descended 

I     "  Those  of  the  Old  and  those  of  the  New  Testament  faith. 
'  Children. 


DANTE  363 

f 

to  her,  spread  wide  his  wings  in  front  of  her,  chant- 
ing, "Hail,  Mary,  full  of  grace."^  Answering  this 
sacred  chant,  the  blessed  Host  rang  out  on  every 
side,  so  that  all  the  Saints  became  thereat  the  more 
serene. 

"O  Holy  Father,  who,  for  my  sake,  endures  be- 
ing down  here,  and  leaving  the  blissful  place  wherein 
your  seat  is  everlastingly  appointed,  tell  me, — ^who 
is  that  Angel  who  looks  into  the  eyes  of  our  Queen 
with  such  ecstasy  that  he  seems  to  be  on  fire  ?" 

With  such  words  did  I  again  seek  instruction 
from  him'  who  was  deriving  beauty  from  Mary,  as 
the  morning  star  from  the  sun.  And  he  answered 
me: 

"Confidence  and  grace,  as  mucH  ias  can  be  in 
Angel  and  in  soul,  are  all  in  him,®  and  this  is  as  we 
would  wish  it,  for  it  is  he  who  bore  the  palm  down 
to  Mary,  when  the  Son  of  God  elected  to  assume  the 
burden  of  mortality. 

"But  now,  as  I  go  on  to  speak,  follow  with  your 
eyes,  and  look  upon  the  great  patricians  of  this  most 
just  and  holy  empire.  Those  two  who  sit  up  yon- 
der, happiest  because  nearest  to  the  Empress,  are, 
BS  it  were,  two  roots  of  this  rose.  He  who  sits  so 
close  upon  her  left  is  the  Fathei"*"  through  whose 


*  Gabriel  sings  the  words  that  he  used  for  the  Annunciation. 
Luke  i  :26. 

*  St.  Bernard. 

*  Gabriel. 
"Adam. 


364  DANTE 

presumptuous  tasting  the  race  of  man  knows  so 
much  bitterness.  At  her  right  behold  that  vener- 
able Father^^  of  the  Holy  Church  to  whom  Christ 
entrusts  the  keys  of  tliis  beautiful  flower.  And  he^' 
who,  before  he  died,  saw  all  the  grievous  straits 
of  the  fair  bride,*'  won  with  the  spear  and  nails,** 
sits  by  him.  At  the  other's  side*"  sits  that  leader** 
under  whom  a  thankless,  fickle  and  stubborn  people 
lived  on  manna.  Behold  Anna  over  against  Peter, 
so  wrapt  in  gazing  on  her  daughter*'  that  she  does 
not  move  her  eyes  as  she  sings  Hosannah.  And, 
opposite  the  sire  of  all  mankind,  sits  Lucia,  who  sent 
your  lady  to  aid  you  at  the  time  when  you  were 
bending  your  eyes  downward,  and  were  sinking 
backward.*' 

But  because  the  moments  of  your  dream*®  are  go- 
ing fast,  we  will  stop  enumerating,  like  a  good  tailor, 
who  cuts  the  garment  to  suit  the  cloth,  and  turn 
our  eyes  toward  the  Primal  Love,^"  so  that,  gazing 

"  St  Peter. 

"  St.  John  tlie  Evangelist. 

"The  Church. 

"Christ 

"Of  Adam. 

"  Moses. 

"The  yirgin  Mary. 

"  The  time  when  Dante  was  returning  to  sin,  and  the  valley 
of  shadows,  and  was  despairing  of  the  hill-top,  all  of  which  is 
told  at  the  beginning  of  The  Divine  Comedy. 

"The  idea  is  that  Dante  has  made  his  great_ journey  in 
spirit,  his  soul,  as  it  were,  moving  through  the  universe  while 
his  body  remained  on  Earth  and  asleep.  He  is  now  drawing 
near  the  goal,  and  so  the  time  is  short,  and  the  moment  of  his 
soul's  return  to  the  body,  the  end  of  his  vision,  is  near. 

**God  Himself. 


DANTE  ^  365 

upon  Him,  you  may  penetrate  His  ligHt  so  far  as 
is  possible.  But,  lest  perchance,  beating  your  wings, 
you  should  go  backward  when  you  thought  yourself 
advancing,  it  is  necessary  to  obtain  grace  through 
prayer; — grace  from  her  who  has  the  power  to  suc- 
cor you.  Follow  me  now  with  such  affection  as  will 
hold  your  heart  intent  upon  my  every  word." 
And  he  began  this  holy  prayer. 

CANTO  xxxin  ' 

**Virgin  Mother,  daughter  of  your  own  Son, 
more  humble  and  exalted  than  any  creature,  pre- 
destined goal  of  the  eternal  mind,  you  are  she 
who  did  so  ennoble  human  nature  that  its  own 
Creator  did  not  disdain  to  be  bom  of  it.  Renewed 
in  your  womb  was  the  Love  whose  warmth  made 
this  rose  blossom  in  eternal  peace.  Here,  to  us,  you 
are  the  high-noon  light  of  Love,  and  below,  among 
men,  you  are  the  living  source  of  Hope.  So  great 
are  you,  O  Lady,  and  of  such  mighty  will,  that  he 
who  seeks  grace,  and  does  not  go  to  you,  would  have 
his  desire  fly  without  wings.  Your  loving  kindness 
not  only  helps  him  who  asks,  but  many  a  time  freely 
anticipates  the  asking.  In  you  are  joined,  mercy, 
compassion,  magnanimity,  every  virtue  of  human 
nature.  Now  does  this  man,  who,  from  the  lowest 
pit  of  the  imiverse  even  up  to  this  place,  has  seen, 
one  upon  another,  every  phase  of  the  life  after 


366  '  DANTE 

jdeath,  pray  that,  of  your  grace,  you  grant  him  sucfi 
jstrength  of  sight  as  shall  enable  him  to  rise  yet 
higher  toward  Consummate  Blessedness.  And  I, 
who  never  yearned  more  for  my  own  vision  than  I 
do  for  his,  make  all  my  supplications  unto  you, 
praying  they  be  not  scant — ^that  you  will  dispel  for 
him  every  cloud  of  his  mortality  so  that  he  may  be- 
hold the  Supreme  Joy.  Further,  I  beseech  you,  O 
Queen,  who  can  accomplish  whatever  you  will,  that 
after  so  magnificent  a  vision,  you  preserve  his  af- 
fections pure.  May  your  guardianship  subdue  his 
mortal  passions.  Behold  Beatrice,  and  all  the 
Saints,  with  hands  clasped,  join  me  in  this  prayer."* 

Beatrice  smiles  her  assent,  and  Bernard  signs  to 
Dante  to  look  upward.  He  thereon  tells  us  that  his 
sight, 

becoming  pure,  was  entering  deeper  and  yet  deeper 
into  the  glow  of  that  Sublime  Light  which  Itself  is 
Truth. 

Thenceforth  what  I  beheld  transcends  human 
speech,  which  must  fail  before  such  a  vision,  as 
human  memory  before  such  excess. 

As  is  he  who  sees  something  in  a  dream,  and,  after 
the  dream  has  fled,  holds  in  mind  his  emotions,  but 


*The  nearest  approach,  perhaps,  to  that  impossible  thing,  a 
translation  of  poetry,  that  shall  itself  be  poetry,  is  to  be  found 
in  Chaucer's  version  of  this  prayer  of  St  Bernard.  It  occurs 
in  the  Second  Nun's  Tale. 


DANTE  Z(i7, 

hot  the  details  whence  they  arose,  sucK  jam  I,  for 
imy  dream  is  almost  wholly  gone,  yet  in  my  heart 
the  sweetness  that  was  born  of  it  still  lingers.  Even 
so  is  snow  by  the  sun  released;  even  so  were  the 
light  leaves  that  bore  the  Sibyl's  writing,  lost  on  the 
.wind. 

Dante  says  that  he  held  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
light  fearing  to  be  dazzled  if  he  withdrew  them; 
that,  holding  them  so  fixed,  he  was  enabled  to  sus- 
tain the  vision. 

O  abounding  Grace,  through  which  I  might  pre- 
sume to  fix  my  gaze  upon  the  Everlasting  Light, 
until,  within  it,  I  had  seen  my  all  \ 

My  mind,  wholly  rapt,  unswerving,  fixed,  inten?, 
gazed,  and  gazing,  was  enflamed.  In  that  Radi- 
ance one  becomes  such  that  henceforth  it  is  im- 
possible for  him  to  consent  to  turn  away  for  any 
other  sight ;  because  the  Good  which  is  the  object  of 
the  will,  is  wholly  centered  on  it,  and  outside  of  it, 
that  is  imperfect,  which  within  is  perfect. 

From  now  on  my  speech  will  prove  even  less  ade- 
iquate  for  recounting  what  I  can  remember,  than 
that  of  an  infant  who  still  wets  its  tongue  at  tlie 
breast.  Not  because  there  was  more  than  a  single 
aspect  to  the  Living  Light  that  I  was  looking  into, 
for  it  is  unchanging;  but  because  my  powers  of 
vision,  increasing  as  I  gazed,  that  single  aspect 
changed  to  me,  as  I  myself  was  changing. 


368  DANTE 

Within  the  deep  clear  being  of  that  Exalted  Ra- 
diance there  appeared  three  circles  of  three  colors, 
and  the  same  dimension.  One  seemed  reflected  by 
the  other,  as  Iris  by  Iris,^  and  the  third  seemed  fire, 
which  was  equally  breathed  forth  by  the  one  and 
the  other.  How  useless  are  words,  and  how  hazy 
beside  my  conception,  and  my  conception  beside  that 
which  I  saw  is  so  petty  that  to  call  it  little  does  not 
describe  it. 

O  Eternal  Light,  that  in  Yourself  dwell  apart, 
and  alone  understand  Yourself,  and  by  Yourself 
understood  and  understanding,  love  Yourself,  and 
smile  upon  Yourself!  That  circle'  which  within 
You  appeared  to  be  reflected,  as  I  looked  fixedly 
upon  it,  seemed  to  me  to  hold,  painted  in  its  own 
color,  within  Itself,  our  mortal  image,  because  of 
which  my  eyes  strayed  not  at  all.  As  the  geometer 
who  devotes  all  his  strength  of  mind  to  squaring  the 
circle,  and  can  not,  by  reasoning,  discover  the  prin- 
ciple whereof  he  stands  in  need,  such  was  I  when  I 
beheld  this  new  apparition.  I  wished  to  see  how 
our  image  was  conformed  to  the  circle,  and  how  it 
has  a  place  therein,  but  my  wings  were  unequal  to 
such  a  flight,  had  not  a  flash  like  lightning  struck 
across  my  mind,  and  with  it  brought  my  wish. 

Here  power  for  the  high  vision  failed,  but  already 


*  The  rainbow,  arch  within  arch. 

■  A  circle  having  neither  beginning  nor  end  is  the  fit  symbol 
for  everlasting,  i.  e,,  eternity. 


DANTE  •  369 

rny  desire  and  my  will  were  revolving,  like  an  even- 
moving  wheel,  driven  by  the  Love  which  moves  the: 
sun  and  the  other  stars.* 

*  In  this  final  vision  Dante's  desire  is  gratified  and  he  finds 
himself  absorbed  by,  and  circling  in  perfect  unity  witli,  the 
will  of  God. 

With  every  rereading  of  The  Divine  Comedy,  and  with 
every  reclosing  of  tliis  supreme  last  canticle,  one  gets  a  clearer 
idea,  and  a  deepened  understanding  of  these  sentences  written 
by  Edmund  Gardner. 

"Rarefied,  indeed,  is  the  atmosphere  we  breathe,  from  the 
sublime  invocation  to  the  Virgin  Mother  to  the  fading  away 
of  the  vision  of  the  invisible,  with  desire  and  will  swayed 
perfectly  by  'the  Love  that  moves  the  sun  and  stars.'  The 
prayers  and  aspirations  of  ages  of  suffering  humanity  have 
passed  into  it,  the  adoration  and  yearning  of  centuries,  the 
ecstatic  meditations  of  generations  of  rapt  mystics  have  gone 
to  the  making  of  it;  but  the  music  to  which  it  is  wedded  is 
that  of  the  new  poetry  of  the  modern  world."  Hibbert  Jour- 
nal, October,  1904. 

And  under  similar  conditions  one  may  realize  with  increas- 
ing force  the  quality  of  praise  which  James  Russell  Lowell 
bestows  on  Dante  when  he  says,  "so  truly  Catholic  is  he,  that 
by  him  the  Romanist  proves  his  soundness  in  doctrine,  the' 
anti-Romanist  claims  him  as  the  first  Protestant" 

This  is  the  Dante  whose  readers  increase  as  time  goes  on, 
generation  after  generation,  recruited  from  nation  upon  na- 
tion to  listen  to  the  "deep,  unfathomable  song"  which  the 
passing  of  years  only  freshens  and  makes  young. 


THE  END 


INDEX 


INDEX 

Abati,  Bocca  degH,  130,  131. 

Abel,  66. 

Abraham,  66. 

Abydos,  230. 

Acheron :  58,  60 ;  crossing  of,  63,  2D9. 

Achilleid,  The,  207. 

Achilles,  70,  86,  207. 

Adam,  41,  63,  142,  170,  178,  253,  344,  346. 

Adige,  83. 

./Egina,  120. 

yEneas,  55,  68, 117,  278,  307. 

i^neid,  207. 

Africa,  29. 

Africanus,  240. 

Agapetus,  279. 

Age,  The  Golden,  233. 

Aglaurus,  189. 

Agnel,  112. 

Agnello,  112. 

Alba,  280. 

Albert  of  Austria,  13,  14. 

Albert  of  Cologne,  293. 

Alessio  Interminei,  102. 

Allegory,  44. 

Anchises,  52,  307. 

Angelico,  Fra,  359. 

Angels :  33 ;  creation  and  nature  of,  350. 

Anna,  364. 

Annas,  109. 

Anselm,  135. 

Antaeus,  127. 

Antandros,  281. 

Antenora,  128,  130. 

Ante-Puratory :  149 ;  classes  of  sinners  in,  149. 

Apennines,  156. 

Apollo,  264.  265,  269. 

Aquarius,  111. 

Arachne,  96. 

Aragon,  150. 

Archangels,  33. 

373 


374  INDEX 

Archheretics,  76. 

Archiano,  155,  156,  157. 

Arethusa,  113. 

Arezzo,  Guittone  of,  216. 

Argenti,  Filippo,  75. 

Argus,  239. 

Ariadne,  83. 

Aristotle,  65,  68,  202. 

Aries,  76. 

Arno,  108,  121,  122, 155,  157,  298. 

Asia  29  31 

Athens :'  art  of,  11 ;  "School  of,"  68;  Duke  of,  83 ;  193,  312. 

Atlantic,  119. 

Augustine,  Saint,  362. 

Augustus,  240. 

Aurora,  169. 

Avellana,  325. 

Averrhoes,  68. 

Avignon,  292. 

Babel,  182. 

Babylon,  334. 

Bacon,  Lord,  191. 

Baptism,  64. 

Baptist,  The,  212. 

Barbarians,  356. 

Bear,  The  Great,  142. 

Beatrice :  becomes  Dante's  guide,  24,  27,  41 ;  declares  herself 
to  Virgil,  56;  159,  233;  makes  herself  known  to  Dante, 
245;  on  Free  will,  275;  speaks  to  him,  246,  247;  story 
of,  16,  20,  23;  unveils  herself,  252;  265;  346. 

Beethoven,  59. 

Belacqua,  153. 

Belisarius,  279. 

Benedict,  Saint,  326,  Z21,  362. 

Benevento,  151. 

Bernard,  Saint:  297,  357,  359,  360,  362,  363;  prayer  to  Mary, 
365. 

Bernardone,  Pietro,  297. 

Berti,  Bellincion,  9. 

Blake,  William,  239,  319. 

Blasphemy,  82,  88. 

Blood :  river  of,  85 ;  nobility  of,  309. 

Boccaccio,  3. 

Boethius,  294. 

Bologna,  6,  108. 

Bonagiunta  of  Lucca,  215,  216. 


INDEX  375 

Bonaventura,  Saint,  299. 

Boniface  VIII,  Pope,  103,  291,  312,  317. 

Bradley,  A.  C,  235. 

Brennus,  280. 

Brescia,  121. 

Briareus,  182. 

Brutus  and  Cassias,  136,  139,  282. 

Brutus,  enemy  of  Tarquin,  68. 

Bryce,  Lord,  7. 

Buonconte,  155. 

Buoso  da  Duera,  132. 

Burke,  Edmund,  208. 

Byron,  Lord,  164. 

Byzantium,  322. 

Cacciaguida,  9,  307,  309,  310,  314. 

Cadmus,  113. 

Caesar,  68,  136,  174,  203. 

Cahorsines,  The,  347. 

Cain,  71. 

Caiaphas,  109. 

Caina,  71,  128,  129. 

Calixtus,  Pope,  347. 

Callaroga,  300. 

Camilla,  68. 

Campaldino,  155, 156. 

Campi,  310. 

Campo  Santo,  235. 

Cana,  185,  212. 

Capaneus,  89. 

Capet,  Hugh,  204. 

Capoccio,  120. 

Caprara,  136. 

Carlyle:  2,  4,  5,  22.  38,  39;  on  Francesca,  73;  232,  290. 

Carthaginians,  The,  280. 

Casella,  147,  148. 

Casentino,  110,  121,  122,  156. 

Cassino,  Monte,  326. 

Cassius,  136,  139,  282. 

Catalano,  108. 

Cato,  142,  144,  145. 

Cavalcanti.  Guido,  79,  80. 

Celestine  V,  Pope,  104. 

Centaurs,  85. 

Cephas,  326. 

Certaldo.  310. 

jCeuta,  118. 


Zld  INDEX 

Chapman,  George,  324. 

Charity,  162,  168,  240,  243,  250. 

Charlemagne,  see  Charles  the  Great. 

Charles  the  Great,  8,  282,  315. 

Charon,  58,  63. 

Chaucer,  2^. 

Cherubs,  ZZ. 

Chiron,  86. 

Christ:    15,  64;  descent  into  Hell,  84;  255,  298;  triumph  of, 

329,  330,  334. 
Christendom,  7. 
Church  Militant,  233. 

Church,  Mystic  Procession  of,  234,  235,  236,  252,  255. 
Church  Triumphant,  2ZZ. 
Cianfa,  112. 
Cimabue,  180. 
Circe,  117. 
Clara,  Saint,  274. 
Clemence,  289. 
Clement,  Pope,  151. 
Cleopatra,  70,  282. 
Cletus,  347. 
Cluny,  106. 
Colchis,  101,  269. 
Coleridge,  313. 
Colle,  188. 

"Consolations  of  Philosophy,"  The,  294. 
Constance,  150. 
Constantine,  105,  278,  322. 
Cornelia,  68. 
Corrado,  167. 
Cosenza,  Pastor  of,  151. 
Cosmography  of  Universe,  Dante's,  28. 
Cowper,  352. 

Crete,  The  infamy  of,  83. 
Crucifixion,  The,  84,  109,  291. 
Crystalline  Heaven,  348. 
Curatii,  280. 
Cyrrha,  265. 

Damian,  St.  Peter,  325. 

Daniel,  212. 

Dante :  answers  accusation  of  Beatrice,  248 ;  arts  in  his  time, 
11;  ascent  from  Hell,  139;  banishment,  10;  beholds 
the  Rose,  355 ;  Boccaccio's  treatise  on,  3 ;  Carlyle  on,  3 ; 
Casella  sings  to,  148;  crosses  Stygian  marsh,  74;  de- 
scribed, 5 ;  Eunoe  crossed,  260 ;  exile  foretold,  312 ;  fore- 


INDEX  m 

Dante — Continued. 

bears,  308;  future  foretold,  311;  Lethe  crossed,  249; 

life,  6 ;  Paradise,  ascent  to,  265 ;  portrait  by  Giotto,  4 ; 

Purgatory,   entered,    172 ;    Purgatory,   preparation    for, 

145;   time,   his,   8;    resemblance  to   other   artists,   59; 

Ruskin  on,  2;  Tennyson  on,  2;  views  the  earth  from 

Paradise,  328;  Villani's  accotmt  of,  3. 
Dardanus,  68. 
David,  66,  321. 
Death,  The  second,  53L 
Decii,  The,  280. 
Decretals,  The,  291. 
Delia,  238. 
Delos,  204. 
Delphic  god,  264. 
De  Quincey,  134. 
Diana,  220. 

"Diana  of  the  Crossways,"  85. 
Dido,  70. 
Diomed,  117. 
Dis,  74,  81,  137. 
Discord  makers,  106. 
Dominic,  Saint:  293,  295;  life  of,  299. 
Dominions,  33. 
Domitian,  211. 
Don  Juan,  164. 
Dryden,  210. 
Duca,  Guido  del,  188. 
Duera,  132. 

Dunkeld,  Douglas  of,  324. 
Durazzo,  281. 

Eagle,  The,  280,  317.  318. 

Earth,  The,  30,  31,  32,  34,  329. 

Easter,  140,  141. 

Eclogue,  The  fourth,  210, 233. 

Eden,  30,  31,  41. 

Egidius,  297. 

Egypt,  147,  340. 

Electra.  68. 

Elias,  254. 

Elijah,  116. 

Emerson,  21,  240. 

Empire,  Holy  Roman,  7,  12,  IS. 

Empyrean,  33,  271,  277. 

Eteocles,  116. 

Ethiop.  321. 

Etna,  Mt.,  89, 


378  INDEX 

Euclid,  21. 

Eunoe,  233,  234,  257,  260. 

Euphrates,  259. 

Eve,  142.  168,  361. 

Ezekiel,  239, 240. 

Fabii,  The,  280. 

Faith :  162, 168, 240, 243. 250;  Dante  t^mined  on,  336. 

Farinata,  78,  79,  80. 

Fighine,  310. 

Florence:  6;  apostrophe  to,  9:  apostrophe  to,  115;  described, 

8 ;  history,  10,  11. 12,  IS,  78. 108;  121, 130,  309,  310,  311. 
Folco  of  Marseilles,  290. 
Fonte  Branda,  123. 
Forese  Donati,  214,  215. 
Forest,  The  dark,  50. 
Forma,  The,  37. 
Fortitude,  142.  168.  241.  250. 
Francesca,  71.  72,  73,  121. 

Francis,  Saint:  235;  his  life,  274,  295,  296,  297,  328,  362. 
Franco  of  Bologna,  179. 
Fraud :  81,  82 ;  varieties  of,  99. 
Frederick  II,  106,  150. 
Free  will.  40,  196,  201,  202,  275. 
Friars,  Jolly,  108. 
Furies,  The,  76. 

Gabriel.  330.  333. 

Gaddi,  Taddeo,  4, 

Gaddo,  135. 

Gaeta,  117. 

Galahaut,  72. 

Ganges,  30. 

Ganymede.  170. 

Gardner,  Edmund,  140, 369. 

Gascons,  The,  347. 

Germany,  7.  10. 

Geryon.  94,  96,  97,  98, 99. 

Ghibelline.  10. 

Ghosts :  36 ;  Dante's  idea  of,  37,  218. 

Giants.  The,  127. 

Gibbon.  294. 

Gibraltar.  30. 

Giotto:  4;  his  tower,  11,  179,  180. 

Gladstone.  270. 

Glaucus,  266. 

God,  Throne  of,  32.  33;  64, 65,  160,  348,  349, 


INDEX  379 

Goethe,  269. 

Good  Friday,  40. 

Gorgona,  136. 

Greeks.  117,  211,  276. 

Gregory,  Pope,  177,  234,  323. 

Griffon,  The,  240,  242,  249,  250,  251,  252. 

Gualandi,  The,  134. 

Gubbio.  179. 

Guelf,  10. 

Guido,  Count  of  Romena,  121. 

Guinicello,  Guido,  221,  222. 

Guittone,  216. 

Hampton  Court,  29. 

Hannibal,  280. 

Hapsburg,  Rudolph  of,  164. 

Hawthorne,  229. 

Heavens,  The,  32. 

Hector,  281. 

Helice,  221. 

Helicon,  237. 

Hell:  24,  29,  30.  31,  43;  Christ's  descent,  84;  divisions  of,  81 ; 
gate  of,  60 ;  inscription  over  entrance,  60 ;  order,  81,  83, 
84 ;  souls  taken  from,  65,  66 ;  upper  and  lower,  83. 

Hellespont,  230. 

Hercules,  127. 

Heretics,  77. 

Hermitage,  The,  156. 

HezekJah,  322. 

Hierarchy,  The  heavenly,  33,  34. 

Hippocrates,  241. 

Hippolatus,  312. 

Holbein,  92. 

Homer :  12,  64 ;  Dante  meets,  67. 

Hope:  162,  168,  240,  243,  250;  Dante  examined  on,  340. 

Horace,  67. 

Horatii,  The,  280. 

Hunt,  Leigh,  73,  121. 

Hypocrites,  106. 

Hypsipyle,  101,  221. 

Ida,  Mt.,  170. 
Ilerda,  203. 
Ilion,  52,  182. 
Illuminating,  Art  of.  179. 
Imagination,  22.  239,  316. 
Indus,  The,  320. 


380  INDEX 

Innocent  III,  Pope,  297. 

Intelligences,  34. 

Iphigenia,  276. 

Isaiah,  342. 

Israel,  66.  147. 

Italy,  in  Dante's  time,  7,  10. 

James,  Saint,  254,  340,  346. 

Janus,  282. 

Jason,  101. 

Jehoshaphat,  11. 

Jephthah,  276. 

Jeremiah,  15. 

Jerusalem,  30,  36,  206,  340. 

Jews,  109. 

Joan,  155,  167. 

Job,  15. 

John,  Saint,  240.  254,  342,  346,  362. 

Joshua,  291,  315. 

Jove,  89. 

Juba,  281. 

Judah,  18. 

Judas,  59,  121,  127,  136,  139,  207. 

Judecca,  136. 

Judgment,  Last,  11,  321. 

Judith,  361. 

Julia,  68. 

Julius,  52. 

Jupiter:  32,  221 ;  heaven  of,  313 ;  ascent  to,  316. 

Justice,  142,  168.  241.  250. 

Justinian,  13,  278,  283. 

Kings,  The  Seven,  89. 

Lachesis,  219. 

Ladder,  Jacob's,  325,  327. 

Lamentations,  17. 

Lancelot,  12. 

Lanfranchi,  The,  134. 

Laodicea,  60. 

Latini,  Brunetto:  222;  Dante  meets,  91,  92,  93. 

Latinus,  68. 

Latona,  204,  329. 

Lavinia,  68,  279. 

Leah,  226. 

Leander,  230. 

Lebanon,  242. 


INDEX  38t 


Lemnos,  101. 

Lentino,  Jacopo  da,  see  Notary. 

Leo  III,  Pope,  8. 

Leopard,  The,  49,  51, 

Lethe,  222,  233. 

Limbo,  57,  64,  66. 

Linus,  347. 

Lion,  The,  49,  51. 

Loderingo,  108. 

Lombard,  The  great,  313. 

Longfellow,  146,  189,  251,  339. 

Love,  Dante  examined  on,  342. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  2,  21,  369. 

Lucan,  67,  113. 

Lucca,  134. 

Lucia.  171,  364. 

Lucifer,  30,  31,  41,  127,  138. 

Lucretia,  68,  280. 

Lucy,  Saint,  54,  57. 

Lycurgus,  221. 

Macbeth,  134. 

Maccabeus,  315. 

Malebolge,  100. 

Malice,  83. 

Manfred,  150. 

Mantua,  52,  160. 

Marcia,  68,  144. 

Marco  Lombardo,  195,  196. 

Maremma,  120,  157,  158. 

Mars,  The  god,  127. 

Mars :  heaven  of,  32,  146,  302 ;  ascent  to,  305. 

Marseilles,  203. 

Marsh,  Stygian,  74. 

Marsyas,  264. 

Martel,  Charles,  288. 

Mary :   166,  203,  212 ;  vision  of,  359,  360. 

Master  Adam  of  Brescia,  121,  122,  123,  124,  125. 

Matilda,  226.  230,  231,  236,  258,  260. 

Matthias.  105. 

Medea,  101. 

Mercury,  heaven  of.  32,  277. 

Meredith,  George,  85. 

Metamorphoses,  111. 

Metullus.  173. 

Michal,  176. 

Michelangelo,  269. 


382  INDEX 

Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  21. 

Milton,  23,  28,  191,  281,  319. 

Minotaur,  83,  84. 

Minerva,  269. 

Minos,  70,  144. 

"Modern  Painters,"  86. 

Mongibello,  89 ;  see  Etna. 

Montaperti,  Battle  of,  78,  130. 

Montefeltro,  155. 

Moon,  32,  268. 

Morocco,  118. 

Moses,  66,  254,  342. 

Murder,  82. 

Muses,  The,  269. 

Narcissus,  125,  271. 

Nasidius,  113. 

Nazareth,  292. 

Nella,  214. 

Nerli,  The,  9. 

New  Life,  The,  16,  216;  see  Vita  Nuova!. 

Nibelungen  poem,  22. 

Nicholas  III,  Pope,  104. 

Nile,  281. 

Nimrod,  182,  345. 

Nino,  167. 

Noah,  66. 

Norton,  C.  E.,  16.  19,  316. 

Notary,  The,  216. 

Octavian,  160. 
Oderisi,  179. 
Odyssey,  119. 
Olympus,  170. 
Omberto,  179. 
Orcagna,  11. 
Orestes,  185. 
Or  San  Michele,  11. 
Orsini,  The,  104. 
Ovid,  a.  111,  113,  120. 

Pageantry,  234. 

Painting :  thirteenth  century,  234 ;  Purgatory,  179. 

Papacy:  7,  15;  degeneracy  of,  347. 

Paradise:  40,  42;  damned  received  into,  66,  261. 

Paradise,  Earthly,  25,  35,  41,  228. 

Paris,  179. 


INDEX  383 

"Parnassus" :  Raphael's,  68 ;  peaks  of,  95 ;  210,  233. 

Paul,  Saint,  55,  317.  326. 

Pegasea,  316. 

Penelope,  117. 

Penthesilea,  68. 

Peter,  Saint:    105,  173,  254,  292,  317,  328,  336,  346,  364;  gate 

of,  54. 
Pettinagno,  Pier,  188. 
Pharisees,  109. 
Pharsalia,  281. 
Phidias,  59. 
Philomela,  170. 
Phlegra,  89. 
Pia,  157.  158. 
Piccarda,  272,  274. 
Pilot,  The  Celestial,  146. 
Pisa,  apostrophe  to,  136. 
Pisani,  The,  11. 
Pisistratus,  193. 
Pistoia,  11. 

Pit,  The,  127,  128, 136. 
Pius,  I,  Pope,  347. 
Plato,  65,  68,  202. 
Plutarch,  see  Athens. 
Pluto,  229. 
Po,  The,  71,  281. 
"Poetry  for  Poetry's  Sake,"  235. 
Pola,  76. 
Pole,  North,  30. 
Pole,  South,  31. 
Polycletus,  175. 
Polyh3Tnnia,  331, 
Pompey,  281. 
Portrait  painter,  92. 
Poverty,  the  Lady,  296. 
Powers,  33. 
Pratomagno,  157. 
Prayer,  The  Lord's,  178. 
Preaching,  On,  351,  352. 
Predestination,  323. 
Pride,  Family,  78. 
Primum  Mobile,  32,  333. 
Princes,  Valley  of,  164. 
Progne,  170. 
Proserpine,  229. 
Prudence,  142,  168,  241, 250. 
Psalmist,  The.  176. 


384  INDEX 

Ptolemy,  281. 

Purgatory:  25,  31,  32,  36;  angel  gate  keeper,  171 ;  as  seen  from 
without,  171",  climatic  conditions,  206;  ledge,  first,  174 
ledge,  second,  185 ;  ledge,  third,  191 ;  ledge,  fourth,  200 
ledge,  fifth,  204;  ledge,  sixth,  209;  ledge,  seventh,  218 
serpent,  165 ;  sins  punished  in,  169. 

PsTamus,  224. 

Pyrrhus,  280. 

Quarnaro,  76. 
Quinctius,  280. 

Rachel,  66,  226,  361. 

Rahab,  290. 

Rain  of  fire,  89. 

Raphael,  59,  68. 

Ravenna,  6,  281. 

Realism,  see  Meredith;  Ruskin;  the  bloody  brook,  90,  129. 

Rebecca,  361. 

Rembrandt,  92,  231,  232. 

Resurrection :  144 ;  an  argument  for,  286. 

Revelations,  15. 

Rhine,  281. 

Rhipeus  the  Trojan,  323. 

Rhone,  76,  281. 

Roland,  315. 

Rome,  14,  52,  68,  198.  207,  212,  278,  292,  356. 

Romena,  121. 

"Romeo  and  Juliet,"  251. 

Rose  of  Paradise,  The,  332,  355,  361. 

Rudolph,  164. 

Ruggieri,  Archbishop,  133. 

Ruskin,  2,  86.  222,  324. 

Ruth,  361. 

Sabellus,  113. 

Sabine  women,  280. 

Sacrament,  Raphael's  Disputa,  68. 

Saints  in  Paradise,  354. 

Saladin,  68. 

Salvation,  The  Eagle  on,  320. 

Saone,  281. 

Sapia,  187,  188. 

Sarah,  361. 

Sardinia,  118,  120. 

Saturn,  heaven  of,  32,  324. 

Scala,  Bartolommeo  della,  313. 


INDEX  '  385 


V. 


gcfiopenViatier,  22. 

Scipio,  281,  347. 

Sculpture,  Purgatory,  175. 

Sea,  Red,  282. 

Seine,  281. 

Semiramis,  70. 

Seraphs,  33. 

Seville,  118. 

Shadwell,  176. 

Shakespeare,  2,  22,  29,  92,  134, 201. 

Shelley,  191,  263,  334. 

Shinar,  182. 

Shirley,  318. 

Sibyl,  Cumaean,  210. 

Sicily,  150. 

Sidney,  Sir  Philip.  216. 

Siena,  11,  157. 

Sinon,  124. 

Sismondi,  The,  134. 

Sixtus,  Pope,  347. 

Socrates,  68. 

Solomon,  Song  of,  242 ;  301. 

Sordello,  160-168. 

Soul,  creation  of,  197. 

Space,  33. 

Spain,  118,  203,  281. 

Stars :  fixed,  32  ;  the  four  great,  142. 

Statius :  207;  on  the  soul,  218;  258. 

Stealing,  82. 

Stephen,  Saint,  193. 

Stigmata,  The,  298. 

Style,  22. 

Suicide,  82. 

Sultan,  The,  298. 

Sun,  The,  32.  292. 

Swedenborg,  319. 

Sylvester  I,  Pope,  105,  297. 

TarpeJa,  173. 

Tarquin,  68. 

Tartars,  96. 

Tartarus,  73. 

Temperance,  142.  168,  241.  250. 

Tennyson :   1 ;  "In  Memoriam,"  72. 

Thaumas,  206. 

Thebes,  89,  207,  211. 

Thebiad,  The,  211. 


yas  INDEX 

Theodoric,  294. 

Theseus,  83. 

Thisbe,  224. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  Saint,  293,  294. 

Thrones,  33. 

Tiber,  147,  219,  298. 

Tiberius,  282. 

Tithonus,  169. 

Titus,  206,  282. 

Torquatus,  280. 

Toulouse,  207. 

Tozer,  219. 

Trajan,  177,  322.  324. 

Transfiguration,  The,  254. 

Tree  of  Knowledge,  253. 

Trent,  83. 

Trinity,  303. 

Troy,  12,  68, 124, 182,  279. 

Turks,  96. 

Turner,  J.  N.  W.,  232. 

Ugolino,  Count,  132,  133,  136. 

Ulysses,  117. 

Urania,  237. 

Urban,  Pope,  347. 

Usury,  94. 

Utica,  144. 

Valdichiana,  120. 

Var,  281. 

Vatican,  68,  292. 

Vecchio,  9. 

Venus,  the  goddess,  221,  230. 

Venus,  heaven  of,  287,  291. 

Verde,  151. 

Verona,  6,  45,  313. 

Villani,  Giovanni,  3. 

Violence,  sin  of,  81,  83, 

Virgil :  appearance  of,  52;  ascent  from  Hell,  139;  declares 
himself,  52;  departure  of,  244;  guide,  24,  26;  limit  of 
his  understanding,  202;  tells  how  he  came  to  Dante,  56; 
Sordello,  161 ;  Statius,  207 ;  why  he  lost  Heaven,  160. 

Virgin,  The,  332,  359. 

Virtues,  Cardinal,  142,  162. 

Virtues,  Christian,  162. 

Vita  Nuova,  IS. 

Vulcan,  89. 


r  INDEX  387 

Wagner,  22.  '  ' 

Wigglesworth,  Michael,  24. 

William  II,  "The  Good,"  322. 

Wolf,  The,  49,  51. 

Wordsworth,  121,  263,  266. 

Writing :  on,  240 ;  see  Mehidith  ;  Ruskin  ;  Sidney. 

Xerxes,  230. 


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